UNIVERSITY
OF FLORIDA
LIBRARIES
In Memory of
Edwin C. Kirkland
MEMOIRS OF THE
AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY
VOLUME 41
1947
An Analysis of Coeur D'Alene
Indian Myths
By
GLADYS A. REICHARD
with a comparison by
Adele Froelich
PHILADELPHIA
AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY
1947
COPYRIGHT 1947 BY
THE AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY
ft saw
(All rights reserved)
Printed in the United States of America
ARCHIVES PUBLISHING COMPANY OF PENNSYLVANIA, INC.
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA
To
Julia and Lawrence
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2011 with funding from
LYRASIS Members and Sloan Foundation
http://www.archive.org/details/analysisofcoeurd41reic
PREFACE
The work presented in the following pages is an indirect result of a
linguistic study financed by the Committee on American Indian Lan-
guages of the American Council of Learned Societies. A grant for
preparation of the manuscript was made by the Council for Research
in the Humanities, Columbia University. Grateful acknowledgment is
made to these institutions for making the work possible.
The name of the Indian tribe under discussion is of French derivation
meaning Heart of Awl or Awl-hearted and the first e of Alene would
properly be written with a circumflex. However since a lake and a town
in Idaho have the same name written without the circumflex, the name
of the tribe also conforms to local usage. The Coeur d'Alene language
is phonetically complex, a large series of ^-sounds and harsh glottal stops
being especially characteristic. The writing of Coeur d'Alene words has
been greatly simplified in this volume since such simplification does not
detract from the points made.
Considerable effort has been put forth to make the translations in-
telligible, sometimes by adding an explanatory phrase not in the text,
sometimes by transposing phrases and sentences and sometimes by the
use of notes. The Coeur d'Alene sentences are not always clear if liter-
ally translated and besides, the informants often offered voluntary ex-
planations. Titles (not given by the informants) have been selected to
indicate as well as possible the point of the tale, in many cases the main
theme is inserted as a catchword after the primary title and the outline
of each myth or tale was made with the purpose of making the episodes
easily found through catchword or theme or both. In the classification
of the tales those were included in the Coyote cycle which he is featured
in although he is not the protagonist in all of them.
All of the comparative work was done by Adele Froelich, the only
changes in her work being changes in arrangement.
Barnard College, Columbia University Gladys A. Reichard
VII
CONTENTS
PAGE
Preface vii
CHAPTER
I. Introduction 1
II. The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 5
III. Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 36
IV. Diffusion and Mythological Processes 54
V. The Myths and Tales 57
A. 1. Chief Child of the Root (Transformer) 57
B. Coyote cycle 68
2. Origin of Indian tribes (From Parts of Monster) 68
3. Coyote overpowers Sun ( Securing Sun Disk) 73
4. Coyote steals his daughter-in-law 77
5. Little Beaver 83
6. Coyote devours his own children 86
7. Coyote loses his eyes (Eye Juggling) 89
8. Coyote hunts with Crane and releases salmon 98
9. Story of Lynx 109
a. by Tom Miyal 109
b. by Dorothy Nicodemus 113
10. War between Land and Water People 119
11. Dog husband 122
12. Coyote and Fox gamble with the Fish - 128
13. Coyote marries Squirrel, sister of Geese 130
14. Coyote imitates Magpie (Bungling Host) 132
15. Coyote and Badger 134
16. Calling the deer 135
17. Calling one's kind 139
a. by Dorothy Nicodemus 139
b. by Tom Miyal 140
18. Coyote kills Cricket with elk fat (Mistaken Kind-
ness ) 141
19. Coyote and Nighthawk change coats (Rolling Rock) 143
20. Cricket rides Coyote 145
21. Coyote snares the wind 146
IX
x Contents
CONTENTS (Continued)
CHAPTER PAGE
C. Myths not in Coyote cycle 148
22. Catbird 148
23. Skunk and Fisher 158
24. The girls who stole dentalia (Kidnapping) 165
25. Thunder 171
26. Waterbird contests for woman (Gift Test) 174
27. Water Monster Woman 177
28. Little Mosquito 181
29. Grizzly and his brothers-in-law 184
30. Muskrat trespasses 185
31. Toad saves children 187
32. Chipmunk and Snake (Contest for Winter and
Spring 189
33. Elk and Snowshoes 190
34. Contest between Cold and Heat 191
35. Rabbit and Jack Rabbit 192
36. Dog goes for fire 193
D. Tales with historical elements 194
37. Turtle's war party (Mock Plea) 194
38. Two-headed snakes 198
39. The dwarf 199
40. Man caught in a fire corral 199
41. Flathead chief sends his daughter to Chief Waxane' 200
42. The Coeur d'Alene attacked 203
43. Two women overcome Nez Perce man 206
44. Woman saved by loose saddle cinch 207
45. The Coeur d'Alene fight the Kutenai 208
46. Boy takes food 209
47. The practical joker 210
48. War between the Blackfoot and the Coeur d'Alene - 211
Bibliography and Abbreviations 213
CHAPTER I
Introduction
The myths and tales presented and analyzed in this volume were
recorded in text in the years 1927 and 1929. They were secured from
informants characterized in greater detail in Chapter II. The Coeur
d'Alene were described by James A. Teit in 1904 (ARBAE 45 :23-197)
and tales closely resembling these were published in free translation in
1917 (MAFLS 11:119-28). Since the Coeur d'Alene culture was at
best loosely integrated and since such knowledge as we have of them
was secured long after they had changed their original way of life, the
material here given aims to supplement Teit's and to show how such
supplementation may be ascertained through linguistic and folkloristic
methods. Instead of using different material it depends upon analysis
and synthesis of evidence made available at different times and through
different means.
The Coeur d'Alene Indians live in the so-called Plateau area in the
northern part of Idaho and have been easily influenced by intruders.
Before the coming of the Whites their whole economic and social life
was changed by contacts with the Plains Indians who lived across the
mountains. The most important white influence, and that an indirect
one, was the introduction of the horse. After the Coeur d'Alene had
secured sufficient horses they took to buffalo hunting on the Plains,
which involved difficult travel and long absences from home and perhaps
added little to the food supply, being in the nature of a sport rather than
an economic activity.
In the little more than eighty years since the Whites have been actively
concerned with changing Coeur d'Alene ways, most of the old culture
has been stamped out. That which the Indians now have is neither white
nor Indian but a doubtful residue of both. The Indians own large
ranches which they rent to Whites; they live in houses like those of
white men, dress like them, eat their kind of food and perform their
religious ritual, in short, try to behave as Whites. The most apparent
difference is social. The Whites for the most part consider the Indian a
subject for exploitation, use him accordingly and scorn him by every
conceivable means in their power. The Indian on the other hand defends
himself by apparent stoicism, stolidity and passive resistance. He realizes
that he is being exploited but is defenseless. His only compensation is the
2 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
privilege of privately pointing out the mistakes of the Whites and gloat-
ing over their absurd conceits.
In the short space of eighty years these Indians have changed from
food gatherers and hunters of small game to horsemen and buffalo-
hunters, to farmers and, finally, to owners of land which they do not
themselves use but from which they live through rent from Whites.
In the accounts of their early life the subject of religion is almost
entirely neglected. In 1928 the Sisters of Charity of Providence cele-
brated the fiftieth anniversary of their residence in Coeur d'Alene terri-
tory. The Jesuit Fathers had preceded them by some thirty years (1846)
when they founded a church at Cataldo, Idaho. It is not surprising then
that the Indians who are Catholics know almost nothing of their old
religion. Since that religion was not very tangible and since there is little
missionary sectarianism in the region, it is not difficult to understand
why the efforts at Christianizing were largely successful.
Many of the facts of Coeur d'Alene ethnology recorded by Teit are
now unobtainable and we cannot sufficiently acknowledge our indebted-
ness to him for rescuing even fragments while there was still time. All
of those customs recorded by him which were still remembered in 1929
are accurately set forth. In some cases informants were interested to
learn about the customs of their forefathers, since no one then living
knew of them except through legend. The only part of Coeur d'Alene
culture left in 1929 was the language, which survived among the old
people and was preserved in the mythology which also has many evi-
dences of white influence. By this time (1946) many of the old people
have died. Few of the young are interested in these matters and the last
vestiges of the culture are rapidly disappearing.
Among the survivors of a dying culture there are always those who
value it. I was fortunate in making the acquaintance of Mrs. Julia Ante-
lope Nicodemus who was one of these. She was the daughter-in-law of
Teit's chief informant, Nicodemus, and his wife, Dorothy, my in-
formant. Julia did everything in her power to aid me in my work, for
she quickly comprehended the problems of linguistic analysis and was
greatly intrigued by them. Her work as interpreter is obvious in the
translations and grammar (HAIL 3:515-707) and, not only did she
furnish all possible information of which she herself was possessed but
she referred more difficult matters to her mother, Susan Antelope, and
her brother, Maurice Antelope, with whom I did not work directly. She
encouraged her son, Lawrence, to come to New York a few years later
when he collaborated in the work of preparing the grammar. Without
Introduction 3
Julia's thorough understanding of the task and her valuable advice as
to ways of going about it my results both linguistic and mythological
would have been much more scanty.
The two chief narrators, Dorothy Nicodemus and Tom Miyal, are
described in Chapter II. Julia was my interpreter for their tales. She
learned to write Coeur d'Alene and contributed the historical narratives,
Nos. 42 and 46, as her own compositions written in Coeur d'Alene.
The work of this volume has various purposes. It aims to show what
texts have to offer to knowledge about a tribe which cannot be secured
with free translations alone. If this type of knowledge is to remain im-
plicit only, it is likely to be lost entirely ; consequently considerable time
was given to ethnological sounding-out of mythical and linguistic clues,
the results of which are given in Chapter III which follows the plan of
Boas' studies of cultural reflections in mythology (ARBAE 31 and
MAFLS 28).
Professor Boas often discussed the possibility of determining the
literary style of various myth bodies (explicitly in RLC 491-502 and
by references in numerous other works). Much of the effort of folk-
lorists has been directed to problems of diffusion and assimilation which
have become more seductive as more regions are studied and analyzed.
It is my opinion that style is the distinctive feature of a myth body,
that which sets it apart from other comparable bodies of tradition, and
that, with a number of mythologies analyzed for literary effects, new
diffusional problems will become apparent. Such a procedure would do
more to separate internal and external factors which make for change
than the mere tracing of plot.
This does not mean that I minimize the value of the studies of plot
diffusion but rather that, once they have been made, their conclusions
may be checked and reinforced by adding this approach. For this rea-
son a modest comparative study of similar tales and literary devices in
a northwesterly direction has been added to many of the stories here
reported. The significance of occurrence of similar plots, episodes and
motivation in any direction except that of the northwest is doubtful,
since only those references are given which have been worked out else-
where in the material used. The limitations of the comparison are not
condoned, they are merely explained as necessary because of lack of
time and other facilities. The comparison is useful in fitting the Coeur
d'Alene into its proper position as a tribe of the northwest and even as
pointing out certain affiliations to the east and south, not to mention the
use they have made of European myth material.
4 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
While plots,1 but more commonly episodes2 and elements,3 are Eu-
ropean. Individual temperament also influences such matters. Dorothy,
for example, took great pride in remembering the archaic form of some
of her stories, even though in some cases she did not understand parts
of them. Tom Miyal, on the other hand, depended on modernizing for
his most humorous effects.
1 Turtle's War Party (37) has the Mock Plea plot of the Brer Rabbit story
although the motivation of the story is in some respects historical.
2 Finding berries in winter (14), Catbird fishing wish (22), Girls finding cooked
camas on door (Hansel and Gretel) (8), Coyote fears his shadow (Aesop) (3).
8 Lynx's child is illegitimate (9), Boy's encounter with beautiful woman in
bright light (42).
CHAPTER II
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology
the problem
The following discussion is a stylistic analysis of the myths and
tales. Not all of the text material in existence is suitable for studies
of style and it is seldom that translations can be used for fair conclu-
sions. The difficulties of obtaining texts in writing make it almost im-
possible to get full versions. Informants get bored with requested
repetition and summarize briefly what they have said with remarks
like, "You have it already," "It is just the same." Furthermore, and
perhaps more important, the incentive of atmosphere is lacking. Nar-
rators are ordinarily stimulated by firelight, leisure, an audience with
an understanding of the setting. Linguists tear them away from work
or play, which they prefer, to sit and tell stories without listeners in
broad daylight, usually in summer when there are more active things
to do. Often the tribe has a theory that tales should not be told in the
summer, but nowadays the Indian seldom holds to the rule although
he may fall back on it for an excuse if he tires or does not want to
tell them. Informants sometimes get interested in recording for its
own sake as was the case with various informants I have used. In
spite of the drawbacks more of the native spirit in the tales may be
ascertained if the study is made through texts than through transla-
tions alone, a method which is emphasized in this analysis.
The small collection of Coeur d'Alene myths made by Teit (MAFLS
11:119-28) gives an adequate idea of the range of plot, episode and
elements of Coeur d'Alene literature. This collection is published with
the myths of a number of other Salish and Sahaptin tribes in the
neighborhood. There are few except the most obvious characteristics
which would serve to indicate any difference in style among these tribes.
Since this difference, is existent the literary analysis of texts aims to
discover it; it includes the kind of effects the Coeur d'Alene narrator
seeks and ways in which he achieves them.
Compared with other North American tribes the body of Coeur
d'Alene literature is not rich. Teit in his short presentation of free
translations gives a good cross-section of the types of narrative. In this
collection there are thirty-eight myths, that is, accounts of things as
6 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
they happened before the world was as it is now ; two tales or accounts
of happenings in the historical period; and ten narratives of actual
historical encounters which were remembered by living people or which
happened not less than a hundred years ago. I have classed Nos. 37
and 38 as tales because the Indians did so although they have many
obviously imaginative characteristics. The plot of Turtle's War Party
(37) is widely used in the Plains area but it has an additional interest
in that the Nez Perce chief here said to have been scalped by Turtle
was really scalped in such a mysterious fashion that the culprit was
never caught. The brief description, The Two-headed Snakes (38), is
vouched for as an absolutely true story. Dorothy's father saw these
snakes. Each one had two heads on each end of its body and it was
necessary for it to move like a scythe so that the heads could be kept
in the proper position.
Some of the historical accounts, especially those about war, are almost
identical with those collected by Teit. The specific references are given
with the separate stories.
Among many tribes, for instance, in the Plains, the Northwest Coast
or the Southwest, informants are fairly bursting with tales. It is not
unusual to collect a large number from one informant and from
another an equal number or even more. Most of these may be different
too as various individuals specialize in different types. Among the
Coeur d'Alene such is not the case. Each narrator is likely to know all
the tales or nearly all of them and the individual versions do not vary
greatly in plot. The general impression is that the myth body is small
and greatly influenced by neighboring Indian lore as well as by the
Whites.
PLOT
In discussing plot I shall assume that a running narrative which may
or may not be closely knit consists of a number of episodes, any of
which may exist independently of the long narrative in which it is
found. It is usually to these episodes that the catchwords apply. The
episodes in their turn are composed of elements which may be closely
concerned with plot, purely stylistic or performing functions belonging
to plot and style alike.
An illustration is the following. The phrase "You shall no longer
be a man-eater" is an element used so frequently as to be a feature
of Coeur d'Alene style, but it is also the concluding phrase to show
why the preceding action has been carried out, thus having some im-
portance in the motivation. There are elements which have nothing
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 7
to do with plot, such as the touches which a lively narrator like Tom
Miyal introduces for the sake of humor. Waterbird sticks the hand-
kerchief given him by the chief's daughter into his coat pocket so
that one corner shows. This element merely verbalizes a human con-
ceit. The Land People phone up river to Snake. This is an amusing
reference to the way white people do things. There are other moderni-
zations which seem like purely stylistic elements but which have addi-
tional significance. For instance Waterbird became a dishwasher through
shame at forgetting his appointment with the chief's daughter. He
thereby put himself in the position of the Humble (though successful)
Suitor and his act affects the entire plot (26). The same character, as
the husband who does all the work, sets forth to overcome the Snakes
who had kidnapped her just because he was unnaturally overwhelmed
with housework.1 In these cases the simplest elements really function
significantly in developing the plot. These examples are markedly Euro-
pean but they serve as illustrations which do not differ from the purely
native elements used in the same way for the same purpose.
European folklorists have long been interested in aetiological tales.
Waterman2 showed quite conclusively, I think, that explanations in many
North American mythologies may be considered stylistic rather than
motivating. In most cases the explanatory elements in Coeur d'Alene
mythology do not influence the plot. In some cases they seem even to be
forced into the narrative. The argument that the desire to explain was
the reason for the origin of the myth is exceedingly weak here. Two of
the tales, The Story of Lynx (9, a and b) and Child of the Root (1)
might be considered as aetiological in origin, but they are not convinc-
ingly so. The reason that Lynx's fur is straggly around the neck and
paws seems to be quite dominant in the Coeur d'Alene mind, but the
achievements of Chief Child of the Root in making the world generally
habitable are much more important to the Coeur d'Alene than details as
to why Mudhen has burnt eyebrows or why Kingfisher is now a good
fisherman. The main stress in this myth seems to me to be moral: If
one addressed the Transformer as "Chief," he was blessed; if he ad-
dressed him as "Chief Child of the Root," he was subdued or even
destroyed. One of the important purposes of the Chief's work was to
teach food conservation. "Don't take one too big or too small, take just
the right size. Then eat it all, do not leave any !" is a constant admonition.
And again, do good for the people. "You will no longer be a man-eater.
You will be used. . . ."
1 Among the Coeur d'Alene the women do the housework. It is considered shame-
ful for men to have to do it.
8 JAFL 27:1-54.
8 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Moralizing as an obvious reason for myth-telling is not common in
North America and it is doubtful if it is ever a single explanation of
myth origin. The story of Child of the Root alone illustrates how moraliz-
ing and explanation may be almost purely stylistic rather than motivating
with both used in nearly equal proportions.
Since some Coeur d'Alene explanations are unique, a list of them is
here appended :
Nighthawk's head became flat, his mouth was stretched out wide and pinched
together at sides by a rock which Coyote put on his head (19).
Cricket has stitches on his body because Coyote sewed him up (18).
Coyote was burned around the eyes by Antelope. Antelope has marks on his legs
and at the root of his tail because Coyote retaliated by hitting him with a lighted
stick (3).
Meadowlark secured necklace and locket (3).
Peculiarities and origin of different tribes explained (2).
Child of the Root made Kingfisher's nails long and cut his bill in the shape of
a file (1).
Lynx's feet and neck have long shaggy hair (9a).
Buzzard has white and red eyes because Lynx's wife choked him (9a).
Otter clubbed Muskrat until his head became flat (30).
Girl gave Mudhen a dentalium, hence the shape of her nose (24).
Helldiver and Robin have white streaks on their breasts. Robin's sound speaks
of death, Helldiver likes water (24).
Crossbills have twisted mouths because they mocked Coyote (7).
Catbird has small eyes because of Coyote's eye juggling (7). Coyote tore his
eye pulling off Old Woman's dress, pressed the tear together, thus making the hair
stand out. Coyote has rust around his eyes because he ate forbidden medicine (7).
Birds became wild canaries when Skunk squirted fluid on their feathers and
made them yellow (23).
"Right now at Salmon's head there is an arrowpoint" because Salmon was shot
in the war between the Land and Water Animals (10).
ACTION
There is a great deal of purely formal action, that is, certain acts are
performed in a conventional way. Things which have been destroyed are
renewed or righted by smoothing. Meadowlark calls attention to her
presence by placing her legs across the trail. They look like nice smooth
little sticks. The person in trouble steps on them and breaks them. When
she complains he puts them in place and smooths them, whereupon they
are restored (3). Coyote, after he has caused Cricket's death, stitches
him up, smooths the stitches, steps over him and he lives again (20).
Chief Child of the Root smooths Splinter Leg's leg and it becomes
whole (1) ; Coyote's treatment of Cricket is typical in its extension (18).
A person who has died may have the parts of his body scattered about in
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 9
all directions. The pieces are assembled, smoothed, stepped over and the
individual comes to life (1, 3, 4, 10, 17, 18, 22). Coyote, who constantly
gets into mischief, is resuscitated by his friend, Fox. Coyote usually
yawns, "My, I've had a nice long sleep !" and Fox replies, "You weren't
asleep, you were dead."
The method of reaching land under water is always the same. The
people going there get into a canoe in definite order. The first one in
is the one to steer. Then at a signal the canoe with all its contents dives.
It dives four times, the last time arriving at its destination. If Coyote
is one of the passengers, he wants to be first. He always dives flat and
blames his companions for pushing him but, whether or not he is first,
he can hardly stand the deep dives and he comes up gasping each of
the four times. The last time he has barely enough breath left to survive
— of course, he always does survive !
There is formality of setting as well as of behavior. Villages are
located near bodies of water. Travelers in canoes sight a house or a vil-
lage, come ashore, walk up the beach, look into or enter a house. The
houses at the bottom of the water are inhabited by man-eating monsters
(the translation "whales" is incorrect). The house is made of ice and
snow and the space from shore to house is glittering with ice which can
be traversed only with the aid of magic power (10, 22, 27).
The above examples illustrate the use of formal elements not closely
related to plot. Plot development in these cases does not depend upon
these conventionalizations. There are however formalities which set the
action in motion after it has apparently halted. One of the most common
motivations is desertion. An individual is deserted. He sits down, covers
himself with his blanket and thinks, "No person, no house, no blanket,
no food. I will surely die. If I go away, I may run into danger. If I
stay, I will die of starvation. If I go, I'll die; if I stay, I'll die." For
days — "I don't know how many, but about two" — he lies dejected, care-
less of self, mourning. When the period of mourning is over, he jumps
up, goes to the sweathouse, then to the river to start all over again (1, 5,
22, 26, 28). A person with peculiar power may, after observing this
ritual, reach into the water, pull out a monster, take a part of the head
shaped like a canoe and use it for one in which he escapes his fate. With
it all sorts of adventures may be entered upon.
Coyote, after a grievous experiment, mourns louder and longer than
anyone else. After a time the people pity him, perhaps even give in to
his demands. They go to seek him because his cry sounds weaker and
weaker and they think to save him from absolute exhaustion. They find
he has left his spittle to cry for him, while he is up and away at new
deviltry (3, 7).
10 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
A boy, usually unruly, foolhardy or both, fishes. He fishes up some-
thing surprising — a woman or child. He runs and tells his grandfather
who warns him against bad luck; he does not take the advice and puts
himself in the power of the monsters who inhabit the icy shore under
the water (10, 22, 27).
An individual draws his blanket up to his face, sits or lies without
glancing up, refuses to answer any questions until one is asked which
confesses guilt or contrition on the part of the questioner. The person
concerned racks his brain for all possibilities and when he finally stumbles
upon the offense, the offended one reacts by answering and accepting
the apology or the atonement (1, 4, 7, 13, 16, 27).
Behavior of the sort described causes a turn in the plot and for that
reason is mentioned here. It may easily be seen from these illustrations
that a fine distinction between elements and episodes cannot be made, for
elements which may consist of only a phrase or two may have an im-
portant bearing on the plot, or a formal combination of elements which
might from its length be called an episode may play little or no part
in plot development.
Episodes or incidents are combinations of elements dealing with
action which may be considered entities if used alone. The Bungling
Host, Eye Juggler or Coyote Frightened by his own Shadow are ex-
amples. All of these may be found in other myth bodies as separate
tales ; sometimes they are much expanded. The first is an independent
story in Coeur d'Alene ; the others are merely incidents of a longer and
more complicated narrative. In some cases the combination of such
episodes is unified. One episode is used as a natural outgrowth of an-
other. Another plot device is to recount the doings of characters in
different places, while one is going through the actions of one episode,
another is concerned in a different one. It is however quite common to
find a succession of episodes not necessarily related to one another strung
into a long narrative, sometimes without much apparent point.
The style of different tribes differs greatly in this respect. Some
mythologies have few, if any, long myths whose plots are not closely
unified. Others center their interest on the episodes, feeling little or no
necessity for unification or consistency. The Coeur d'Alene mythology
stands about midway between these two extremes. Some of the tales
are splendidly unified (9, for example) ; others are scattered and sprawl-
ing in the impression they leave (8).
The abstracts show distinctly the episodes known to the Coeur d'Alene.
Among them are such wellknown ones as Rolling Rock (19), Origin of
Indian Tribes (2, common to many tribes of the Northwest area),
Bungling Host (14), Test of Fatherhood (9a, b), Box Dropping from
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 11
Sky (4), Calling the Deer (16), Eye Juggler (7), Releasing Salmon
(8), Dog Husband (11), Mock Plea (37).
Several of the more unusual ones are the incident of the Kidnapped
Baby (24), Friendship of Rabbit and Jack Rabbit (35), Story of
Thunder (25), Dog Goes for Fire (36).
Devices used to weld the episodes together show that unification of
plot is valued. Trickery is resorted to when the action comes to an end
and there seems no way of setting it going again. The old familiar ruse
of making a dummy to take the place of someone is used (22, 24).
Coyote becomes a weird foundling in order to release salmon dammed
up by four man-eating sisters. The mother of the kidnapped boy throws
her belt upon the water for pursuing man-eaters to use as a bridge.
When they are on it with their clothes full of rocks (which they are
told will steady the belt), the mother pulls it in and the man-eaters are
drowned. Grizzly challenges Rabbit with whom he lives to contests,
pretending they are play. Rabbit substitutes a bladder for his eye and
thus saves himself from Grizzly (2). Catbird pretends to offer Wolf a
large lump of fat. It is really a hot rock wrapped in elk fat (22). Geese
try to kill Little Mosquito with thornberry prods when he is hiding in
the sweathouse. He mixes red paint in his little spoon and puts it on
the end of the thorn sticks and they think he is dead (28).
One of Coyote's most important functions in myth is playing tricks
on others. His tricks sometimes revert to his own discomfiture, but
often he succeeds. Two will suffice as examples. As a result of con-
sultation with his powers, he causes his son to reach the sky by lying
down and arching his eyebrows. Coyote pretends he does not want to
do this but cannot help it because he is afraid his son will fall from a
tree where he is gathering feathers from an eagle's nest (4). His trickery
may be direct lying as in the case where he pretends Gobbler spat up the
two mice and he himself the two nice-looking people when really the
reverse was the case (2).
Although trickery is one of the important devices used by the Coeur
d'Alene in plot development and in combining episodes, the tricks them-
selves are not unusual but rather the conventional ones known to and
used by many other Indians.
There are occasions where deceit, though necessary to the plot, is
nevertheless punished. The Grizzlies were a group of deceivers aided
and abetted by a traitor Coyote. Little Beaver overcame them with
strength he secured through training (5). There is a strong sense of
poetic justice in this tale. Coyote sometimes gets his deserts and when
he does, the satisfaction is great to myth characters and to their creators.
He was punished by drowning for disobeying the Geese brothers (13).
12 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
He was killed by grizzly cubs for breaking a taboo. Fish took him
at his word and he had to entertain them all (8). In the encounter with
Lynx he and Raven came off worst because they had stamped on Lynx
maliciously (9a). Coyote was destroyed by his son for his bad treat-
ment (4). Woodtick, after helping him, forsook him and let him
starve (16).
The most drastic measures used against Coyote are merely temporary
in their results. With his power of invulnerability he always becomes
alive and is just as tricky as ever but, because of his eternal resiliency,
he furnishes the myth-maker with material with which to spin an
infinite number of tales.
Good deeds may also be rewarded, although examples are less numer-
ous than are those of punishment. Rabbit and Magpie were rewarded
for returning with their blankets for Lynx's baby when it and its
mother were helpless (9a, b). The man who deceived the girl sent to
Chief Waxane' and all his family were destroyed by the chief (41). The
most obvious and frequent exercise of justice is by punishment of the
guilty — it is most often death or destruction — whereas the reward for
good deeds, though not lacking, is rare. The reason for this treatment
is to be found in Coeur d'Alene psychology. The first reaction of the
Coeur d'Alene for even the most trivial offense is, "I will kill (or injure)
him." There is of course no way of telling whether the tales reflect this
attitude on the part of their narrators or whether they have this attitude
because of the constant influence of the tales. The effect is doubtless
reciprocal.
Such a question as that of poetic justice must be looked at with
qualifications, for that which might seem just to us might seem to the
Coeur d'Alene mere foolishness. The story of the boy who stole the
food (46), for instance, takes on a very different moral tinge from the
same offense in our milieu. The point of the story is that it is bad for
parents "to think more of food than of their child," and they are
punished accordingly. The action of the boy is condoned and he continues
his adventures successfully.
Trickery and poetic justice may give the plot its motivation and they
are also important in plot development. A third device which is purely
stylistic and has nothing to do with motivation is the use of warning
or rehearsal of a scene and the repetition of that scene in actuality. A
protagonist gets into a tight place. A deus ex machina reviews for him
what is going to happen and in so doing stresses the part the protagonist
is to play. Everything happens as predicted (3, 8, 10, 22, 24, 27). This
type of repetition without supernatural help is used when an individual
plans out his action in his mind, then performs it (1, 8). Although the
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 13
device is principally a rhetorical one, it nevertheless influences the plot
development.
PLOT MOTIVATION
The plot motives are not unique among Indian mythologies. There
are however limitations to the number and kind used. Of these by far
the most outstanding is that of punishment. Someone offends either
purposely or inadvertently and must be punished. The two most com-
mon punishments are desertion and killing. Chief Child of the Root
leaves his mother and grandmother because of his mother's offense in
giving him a root for a father (1). The girls who stole dentalia from
the chief, their father, are deserted (24). The younger sister is deserted
by her older sister because she fails to pass the food offered her through
a dentalium funnel (24). Lynx's wife is deserted apparently because
of the illegitimacy of her child (9a, b). His grandmother leaves Catbird
because he is stingy and does not share with her the fish he caught (22).
A girl who does not learn to work is left by the whole village (31). A
younger sister and her dog-husband leave her older sister who taunts
her about her husband (11). Elk leaves his partner, Snowshoes, because
he does none of the work (33). An exaggerated case is that of Coyote
even thinking evil of Little Beaver, whereupon he is left alone (5).
In these motives there is some idea of revenge which is also the chief
motivation of some tales as Coyote's theft of his daughter-in-law (4).
The perfect vindication in Coeur d'Alene thought is destruction by kill-
ing, either the individual being considered guilty (13, 16, 33) or his
whole family or village (5, 7, 22, 24, 27, 41, 46). In the story Muskrat
Trespasses (30), Muskrat avenges himself on the Otter boys by killing
their sister. Retaliation may also be made by burning the house of the
offender (1, 28, 37). Milder forms of revenge are counter-trickery (8),
or beating (24, 34). Chief's orders are considered important by all good
citizens of a village and disobedience is punished (7, 8, 13). Obedience
is exacted by an older person from a younger, unless that younger has
special power (24).
Other motives which set a long plot going are the power of the little
(1, 5, 16, 28) or ugly one (8, 11), contests of power, test (5, 16, 28)
and unsuccessful imitation (7, 8, 14). Almost all the tales have these
motives in one form or another. Just as the plots themselves and even
the episodes which compose them show little originality in comparison
with Indian mythologies in general, so the motivations are not unusual
or greatly varied. Desertion, punishment, revenge, disobedience, tests
of power are the most frequent ; often one gives rise to another and the
combinations give variety to the stories.
14 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
CHARACTERS
The characters in Coeur d'Alene mythology are of three kinds —
human, animal and characters neither human nor animal. Of these the
animal characters are much in the majority. The whole order of literary
actors is fixed in the Coeur d'Alene mind so that it is not always possible
to differentiate humans from animals. Two formal introductions to the
tales are, "There was a village. There was a chief" and "A boy lived
with his grandmother." Such introductions sound as if the actors were
human but they are not so regarded. In the first instance the chief is
understood to be Bald Eagle and the inhabitants of the village animals
and birds of different kinds. The boy and his grandmother are almost
always animals or birds. Although in many cases the informants cannot
tell which animals are related to the chief, they feel nevertheless that
they are animals and not humans. In the age in which the myths are set,
animals were people and people were animals. There was little differentia-
tion, and animals had the good or bad characteristics which we now
ascribe to people in addition to the characteristics now possessed by the
animals themselves.
Occasionally actors seem to be human, but they are rare. Chief Child
of the Root (1), Splinter Leg (1), Chiefs Reserved and Quiet (10), and
the Nez Perce chief (37) were human. The girls who stole dentalia (24)
may have been human, but were probably birds. The hunter whose wife
was stolen by Thunder (25) is not given an animal name, but it is quite
likely he is thought of as one. The same is true of the deserted girl
and her little brother who were saved by Toad (31).
Actors which are neither animal nor human may be normal. They
may be natural phenomena such as Sun (3), Rock (19), Wind (21),
Cold, Heat (34), Thunder (25). They may be manufactured objects as
Pestle, Awls, Combs, Bladders, Lassos (1), Snowshoes (33), or they
may be highly imaginary creatures, monsters which have animal or
human characteristics but are larger, fiercer and have additional abnormal
features: the Child Eater (31), Gobbler (2) and all beings referred to
as water monsters (1, 22, 27). These beings are almost certainly the
"mysteries" described by Teit (ARBAE 45:181-2) with more details
than the stories furnish.
Along with the belief in "mysteries," monster-spirits, or whatever
they may be called, is a belief in dwarfs. They are small supernatural
beings which frighten men, do them mischief, but rarely if ever cause
lasting damage. Strong as this belief is in the Coeur d'Alene mind it is
strange that dwarfs do not occur in the myths. The brief description of
tale 39 is the only evidence of their existence in this collection and it
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 15
was asked for and given, not as a myth or a tale but as a piece of
description.
The Coeur d'Alene in their original environment lived by hunting,
fishing and food-gathering for they knew none of the arts of agricul-
ture, nor did they domesticate animals. They inhabited territory where
game and fish were abundant, their homes being near wooded river and
lake shores. The men spent a large part of their time on the water or
in roaming the forest. Much of the women's time was employed in
gathering roots, seeds and materials for housebuilding and basket- or
wallet-twining. Even when they remained at home there was ample op-
portunity for observing the behavior of birds and animals. Consequently
they became authorities on bird, animal and plant habits. The most exact-
ing details can be given even today by those few Coeur d'Alene who
still cultivate their liking for hunting and fishing. In the summertime
it is sometimes difficult to find the conservative families as they are con-
stantly going camping for the purpose of gathering. It is no wonder
then that they feel themselves intimately related to the animals or that
their descriptions are reliable. These conditions account readily for the
use of animals as actors in the myths, but they do not explain the absence
of plants as characters. There is no reason to suppose their knowledge of
plant life to be less intimate or exact, yet in only one case is a plant
considered anything but an inanimate object. And this is true in the
face of the fact noted on page 14 that life and action were easily ascribed
to other natural phenomena and to manufactured articles.
There is a large number of animal actors, but I suppose that if a list
of known animals were compared with a list of those used in the tales,
many would be missing. For instance, one of the most common birds in
the Coeur d'Alene country is the killdeer. It is much loved by the
Indians. There is however no story connected with this bird and it
appears only incidentally as one of the man-eating sisters who dammed
up the salmon (8).
Coyote is the most outstanding actor in the myth body. There are few
narratives into which he does not enter either as a primary character
or incidentally to put a spoke in somebody's wheel. Fox is Coyote's
closest friend and appears often with him or helps him if he is in trouble.
Their pet enemies are the Wolves and there are frequent conflicts be-
tween the two parties. Grizzly Bear, a fierce fighter, vies with these
animals in the number of times he is mentioned.
Other mammal actors are: antelope, deer, elk, beaver, otter, mink,
muskrat, fisher, badger, skunk, lynx, black bear, rabbit, jack rabbit,
various squirrels, mole and mouse.
16 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Birds are also numerous : nighthawk, meadowlark, f oolhen, mudhen,
geese, black swan, kingfisher, magpie, raven, woodpecker, redheaded
woodpecker, helldiver, robin, pheasant, tern, crossbill, snipe, catbird,
eagle, crane and several others which have not been identified.3
Insects mentioned are: cricket, mosquito, spider, an insect like a
spider with long legs, perhaps harvestman, woodtick, louse, bedbug and
a former but now outdated pest, perhaps flea.
Fish and reptiles are usually classed as Water People, but Snake and
Toad were Land animals. Salmon was the chief of the Water People
and some of his followers were Turtle, Watersnake and the Fishes.
The organization of the animals into kinship groups is a stylistic
feature of the area including many tribes besides the Coeur d'Alene.
Relationships are understood by all the people and it is not always nec-
essary to mention them in the tale. Bald Eagle as village chief and the
animals as the villagers have been mentioned. A boy lived with his
maternal grandmother (8, 22). This is exactly according to Coeur
d'Alene custom even today. As the interpreter explained, "There is al-
ways a grandmother on the mother's side in the stories because she took
more interest in the family."
Complex organization is mentioned for some families. Coyote's wife
was Mole and they had four sons and a daughter. These children have
names which may also be applied to humans. Four mice were Coyote's
aunties. Fox was his best friend and he reckoned numerous others as
relatives by his remark, "Your father's father's father and my father's
father's father were brothers, so we must be brothers." He addressed
Cricket as "younger brother." This may have been sarcasm, teasing or
a form of coaxing.
With Coyote lived, according to different stories, Deer and her two
children (6) ; Antelope and her four children, until Coyote and Ante-
lope quarreled (6) ; Fox (with Coyote and his daughter, 12) ; Badger
and her children (15).
The only consanguineous relationship of Fox mentioned is that he
was the maternal grandfather of the cruel boy of tale 27. Coyote and
Fox had a special term which they used reciprocally. It was a contamina-
tion of the word for friend (I have translated it "boy-friend," although
I do not think it particularly good).
Another relationship mentioned is that of the Otter brothers whose
sister was Mink (30). Cold and Heat were brothers (34). There were
four of the Geese boys and Pine Squirrel was their only sister (13).
Harvestman was the father of the Beaver Girls (4). It was common
1 In most cases identifications were made from P. A. Taverner, Birds of Western
Canada, Victoria Memorial Museum Bulletin, No. 41. 1926, Ottawa.
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 17
for several families to live in the same house. Several examples of this
custom have just been mentioned. Elk lived with Snowshoes (33) ;
Rabbit and Magpie lived together at some distance from the Chief's
house (9) ; Skunk and Fisher inhabited the same house (23).
In my opinion the nicest relationship in Coeur d'Alene — and in any
group for that matter — is that which may be translated "relative and
friend." Rabbit and Jack Rabbit bore this relationship to each other (35),
and there can hardly be found a tale so full of psychological insight as
the one which deals with the worries incident to the separation of these
two who were bound by a deep friendship but who happened to be rela-
tives.
As is the case with other raconteurs, the Coeur d'Alene narrator some-
times finds himself in need of a deus ex machina, nor does he want for
one. Three different characters perform this function. Meadowlark, a
wise but tiny helper, appears just in time to save the protagonist. He
is desperate when he sees two nice smooth little sticks lying across the
road. Unheeding he steps on them and breaks them. Then he hears,
"aninin, you broke my legs, I was going to tell you a story." "Oh, I am
sorry ! Do tell me a story !" and he places them together, smooths them
and at once they are healed. Then Meadowlark predicts what is to happen
to the hero and the hero proceeds according to her directions (1, 3, 10,
24).
Coyote had helpers which could predict his behavior. When he came
to an impasse, he summoned them. None of my informants could (or
would?) tell me exactly what these helpers were. They always said,
"That's a Coyote-word." The Thompson (and other Salish tribes)
attribute special powers to Coyote's excrement. From linguistic evidence
I suspect the four powers are excrement, testes and penis. Coyote has a
special kinship term by which he addresses them. This term is used
nowhere else. The first power offers to take some special part of the
burden of attack, the second assumes responsibility for some other part
and each of the others contributes its share to make the adventure suc-
cessful (2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 14).
When a boy has been unwise enough to wish while fishing and draws
up a woman he brings bad luck upon himself. He reports his luck to
his maternal grandfather who, by his magic, saves the grandson from
the water monsters into whose power he has come (22, 27). The grand-
father knows that the water monsters are dangerous and is able to
advise the party which accompanies the boy what to do and what not
to do. Furthermore he is able to walk up the beach made of ice, snow
and frost which extends from the shore to the house, the monster's
under-water home.
18 An Analysis of Coenr d'Alene Indian Myths
These supernatural helpers are not used indiscriminately or frequently
enough to be tiresome. No one can use Coyote's powers but himself.
There are times when he does not (or cannot) use them. In the story
Coyote Loses his Eyes (7) he is constantly helpless and in trouble and
always dependent upon someone to help him out. The motive here is
punishment for his misdeeds, especially for his ingratitude and, if he
could summon his powers to his aid, the story would have no point.
Meadowlark can help anyone and, in the tale of the Animals Obtain
the Sun Disk, Coyote is aided first by Meadowlark and then by his
powers. The grandfather with supernatural power has this power only
over deep water and the country under it.
A number of other helpers or actors give directions as, for example,
Chipmunk and others of the Squirrel family (8, 23, 25, 32), Wood-
pecker (7) and the Spiders (4). These are, I think, actors which come
into the story in a natural rather than a supernatural way, or they may
be equivalent to guardian spirits, as Chipmunk certainly is.
There are myths where no intermediary is needed. Lynx, for instance,
has quite enough power to help himself out (9). Catbird helps himself
by his wit, fearlessness and calculated naivete (22). Crane, like Lynx,
has strong power as well as wisdom (8). There is therefore no lack of
variety in presenting solutions to the conflicts which arise in the plots.
CHARACTERIZATION
Almost every quality is inherent in the character of Coyote, who is
the most versatile of them all. All other characters are stereotyped but
he may appear in any guise. His good qualities are not absent, but when-
ever his motives seem good they should be regarded with suspicion. If
they do not suddenly change, they at least rarely reach attainment be-
cause of Coyote's stupidity.
He is greedy. His greediness reaches its climax when he is not
satisfied to devour Deer and her children and his own sons, but even
eats the scraps he has offered to his baby daughter before she can eat
them herself (6). In another repugnant incident he eats his own marrow
after having broken his leg (7). He is indignant at the Crossbills for
taunting him about it and as revenge, pulls their bills diagonally so
they can no longer speak words. The examples illustrating Coyote's
greediness show also his cruelty (6). There is no limit to the length
he will go to gain even an insignificant end. He banishes his son from
earth for a long time to get his wife (4) ; he brings disaster to the peo-
ple for only a whim (17), he does all in his power to punish Lynx
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 19
whose offense against him is not mentioned (9) ; he even kills Badger,
his own house-mate (15).
Coyote is the personification of ingratitude. Even when he is in the
direst straits he mocks or complains. Woodtick furnishes him with
halves of deer when he is starving. He complains because the whole deer
is not given. Although she gives him his only means of subsistence he
teases her because she has no neck ( 16) . When he has got himself into
the tightest place because of his greed at a dance he tries to steal forbidden
bladders of fat which turn to rocks and cover him. A woodpecker, by
dint of the hardest work pecks a hole so he can at least see. Coyote,
looking through the hole, sees Raven and cannot resist pointing out his
deformities, whereupon Raven picks out both his eyes and he is worse
off than he was before (7). Lynx, in a burst of forgiveness and generos-
ity, takes back the entire village after they have wronged him. Coyote
finds only bones and fat in his house and complains even though he has
had no other food for days (8, 9).
Coyote is boastful, vain and stupid. Never is a test announced that
he fails to brag of his prowess or that of his children : "My beads are the
nicest" ; "my first-born will be the first to break it" (26) ; "7 am
the child's grandfather" (9) ; "I am the one who really knows how to
gobble" (2) ; "my father and his father and then his father knew that
trick too" (2, 7, 8). In most cases Coyote is bested, but there are oc-
casions when his opinion of himself is justified as for instance in his
contests with Gobbler (2) and with the man-eating sisters (8). His
defeat is due to stupidity, thoughtlessness and lack of foresight. He is
so vain that he frequently disobeys taboos or orders. He cries out when
the Geese have particularly asked him not to (13) ; he takes pride in
disobeying the chief's orders (8) ; he tries to shoot more than two deer
and comes off with only two fawns (8). He is vain about his appear-
ance, "When I go to Spokane how nice I shall look" — this, in Night-
hawk's coat (19). His vanity may be a source of philosophy and com-
fort, as when Mole has thrown the plates into his ears> "Oh my! I
have a nice noise in my head. When I get to a celebration I shall be
called, 'The One with the Noise in his Head' " (6).
Suspicion is naturally a part of his nature. He illustrates well the
saying that one suspects motives in others which he himself may have.
Thus when Nighthawk tells him to hold fast to his belt he is afraid to
trust him (19). His great faith in his own power may be the reason he
does not believe that of others to be strong. Although he is suspicious
and generally unsuccessful he is always interfering in other people's
affairs. He would show Crane how to make a fire and how he ought to
hunt (8) ; he would go with the Geese whether they wanted him or not
20 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
(13) ; he has something better to suggest to the fish as entertainment
even though he does not mean his invitation seriously (12) ; as the moon
he announces publicly every act of the people on earth whom he spies
on at night ( 1 ) .
Coyote has little originality but is essentially imitative. His imitation
is usually unsuccessful as when he tries to fish like Magpie (14), when
he imitates Crane (8), Grizzly (17b) or Woodtick (16).
He is dictatorial to all but Mole, his wife, bears the brunt of his
orders. When she calls attention to his unreasonableness or lack of judg-
ment, he snaps "Don't answer back ! Do what I tell you !" (6) . And she,
contrary to her better judgment, does it, but she has her own power and
quietly, stubbornly and conservatively outwits her despicable spouse.
In the ease with which his attention can be deflected Coyote is a
regular monkey. He may set out with the most serious purpose only to
be diverted by the slightest thing. When he is seeking revenge on Mrs.
Badger, he forgets all about his errand watching the two Nit Children
slapping each other (15). He is impatient of the training Little Beaver
requires to get his power, but in this case his loneliness overcomes his
laziness (5). He is not above cheating when he gambles, but he tells on
others who cheat and he himself stops while he is winning.
There is no doubt that the Indians wish the total impression of
Coyote to be bad, but there are some cases where his compassion is
genuine and where his stupidity or his successful trickery is beneficial.
His loneliness after his children have been killed by the Grizzly is a
case of real feeling, "When he (Little Beaver) plays around my house
I feel happy. Then I forget the loss of my own children. Then and then
only can I laugh" (5). His blunder in feeding Cricket elk fat was
prompted by kindness alone. The mistake was due to Coyote's stupidity
in not knowing that all people are not meat-eaters (18).
Coyote's encounter with Gobbler was clever in every respect. He is
credited with the origin of the Indian tribes and is responsible for their
characteristics. The Coeur d'Alene came out well in this deal (2). An-
other case of his blundering on to a good for man was in releasing the
salmon although even here he discriminated against those who refused
to furnish him with a wife (8).
Above all Coyote is versatile. He is greedy, sly, impudent, impatient,
impulsive, stupid, suspicious, ignorant, imitative, cruel, ungrateful, inter-
fering, boastful, vain, clever, and rarely, compassionate. The Coeur
d'Alene admire his slyness, fear his power and trickery, distrust his
promises and even his success and, above all, despise him. Nevertheless
they, like the mythical animals, are curious to see what he will do
next (17).
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 21
Not much is said in the tales about Mole, Coyote's wife, but she is a
perfect foil for Coyote. She is as unostentatious as he is ubiquitous. We
may picture her, a quiet, tight-lipped, determined little body industriously
going about her affairs with sure skill and wisdom. Coyote is willing to
rush into a situation impulsively. Mole calculates the results and acts
in the most conservative way (6, 17). She loves her children and can
usually do well by them, but when Coyote goes absolutely berserk she
has no power to save her sons from death. By the exercise of careful
strategy she saves her daughter, brings her sons to life and punishes
Coyote (6). There is no blatant way of holding Coyote who is as
promiscuous as he is undependable, but Mole resorts to subtlety. When
she is at home she wears a gray dress but when she goes out to dig
camas she wears bright red. The scarlet woman among those digging is
sure to be Mole. Coyote complains when he sees her from a distance —
she becomes gray if he comes too near — "Just as soon as she leaves
me she dresses up" (6).
A character frequently mentioned and definitely stereotyped is Grizzly.
He is fierce, he bites and claws, he attacks with a growl and is rarely
beaten. He is considered such a good fighter that his mode of attack has
become symbolic of bravery (5, 9b, 17, 27). He is called Hammered
Sitting Place because his posterior is flat from much lazy sitting. He is
expert in feathering arrows. Therefore Catbird calls upon him for that
purpose (22).
Another actor not thoroughly approved is Raven. He, like Coyote,
acts without the chief's orders (19), he pecks out people's eyes (7)
and is generally distrusted. His own eyes are white and turned back be-
cause he was choked by Lynx's wife when he tried to steal a ball of fat
from her little son (9a).
Two excellent hunters are Lynx and Crane. In order to have hunting
luck, one must have great power. Both of these animals have it and
combine with it good qualities. Lynx is perhaps the best of the hunters.
Even with two versions of the story about him it is not clear why he
should have been punished as he was. The Story of Lynx is doubtless
an example where several parts of a narrative were used without smooth
articulation. He genuinely loves the chief's daughter and does everything
as she wishes. He even sacrifices his looks for all time because she asks
him to. His vanity is only for her as is his vengeance. We feel that he
did not wish to punish the other animals like Coyote and Raven but did
so only out of sympathy for her sufferings. He was willing too to accept
the damages her father offered the first time, but left the decision to her
and abided by it after she had made it (9a, b) .
22 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Crane according to Coyote is not handsome. He has a raucous voice
which Coyote cannot bear. He has excellent power, he can get much out
of little, he is generous and long-suffering. Quietly, humorously and
effectively he shows up Coyote's over-estimation of himself (8).
Catbird is a whining, pestiferous boy who always wants the impossible
and gets it. He gets his will through slyness, determination and in-
genuousness. For instance he tells Grizzly not to be afraid, he will not
shoot him (22). He is considered unruly rather than admirable by the
Coeur d'Alene.
The Wolves are thieves (8, 22).
Many of the characteristics of the animal actors are considered good
or bad for people. Two characters are idealized. One of the squirrels,
Saretcen, is the symbol of perfection. Whatever she makes is perfect
and it is considered a great boon to have anything to do with her. She
is also neat and pretty.
Toad is the symbol of self-sacrifice and fatality. She is ugly and
always wets everything, but is extremely clever (1). She acknowledges
her homeliness and is willing to take on the sufferings of others because
after all what does it matter what happens to anyone so unattractive?
"You are beautiful and young; I am old and ugly. I will die in your
stead," is her stereotyped speech (31).
Rabbit and Jack Rabbit have human characteristics brought out satis-
factorily by story 35. Rabbit in other cases is dignified and clever (2).
Bluebird was modest even about his beautiful coat of blue (9). Human
failings, whether shown by human or animal actors, are realistically por-
trayed. Curiosity is so strong in the older sister of the Dog Husband
story that she cannot stay away from her younger sister even if she
is mistreated (11).
An analysis of the characters of the myths and their behavior gives
a splendid clue to the qualities admired, discounted or despised by the
Coeur d'Alene. Deceit is not condoned, but it is necessary to furnish
conflict in the tales. If the end is gained it may be tolerated, but it is
often punished. No explicit indication of approval or disapproval is
given about cruelty. Coyote is punished, but not too severely, for de-
vouring his children in the crudest fashion (6). He is killed for his
cruelty to the children of the pheasants. The cruelty of the boy who
poked out the eyes of many individuals is punished by desertion, but he
comes out rather well in the end (27). By and large the Coeur d'Alene
are proud of their reputation for heartlessness. They were created from
the heart of Gobbler and have consequently been "mean" ever since.
They boast of their hardness and tell the tale with pride. It is perhaps
equivalent in their minds to bravery. No shivers run down the back of
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 23
narrator or audience at the gruesome description of the scalping of the
Nez Perce chief (37), or even at the historical account of the Blackfoot
warrior who was scalped and sent home (48). Pride in a dangerous ex-
ploit is the dominant emotion. There is scorn too at the mention of the
tears running over the Blackf oot's face as he is being scalped.
The quality of mercy is not by any means absent but is manifested in
special situations. Chief Child of the Root is a constant example of com-
passion (1). He helps the deserving, spares them from the results of
their own stupidity, even though he punishes those unfavorable to man.
His compassion for man is deeper than his pity for the ones he subdued.
This character is identified with Christ.
The Geese brothers love their sister Squirrel, and when they go out
singly to kill her, each returns saying he has not seen her. It is only
when two of them go together that they fulfil their agreement to
punish her (13). Rabbit and Magpie pity the girl deserted with her
baby by her father and his whole village and bring back their blankets
for the baby even though they have to deceive the chief (9). Coyote's
son apologizes profusely for having killed Harvestman, the father of the
Beaver girls. He would not have done it had he known and he brings the
father to life again (4). Woodpecker for no apparent reason takes pity
on Coyote and works two days pecking out his eyes from the rocks in
which he is imprisoned (7). Several of the squirrels and some feathers
help the man of tale 25 out of his difficulties, apparently because they
pity him. It may be however that he had them as guardian spirits. There
are as many illustrations of pity and compassion as there are of cruelty
and heartlessness.
An attitude markedly conventionalized is that of hopelessness. A per-
son starts out on an impossible quest. Everyone he meets attests the
futility of his task, but each one offers also some piece of advice, per-
haps even gives tangible aid. Along with the prediction of failure goes
determination on the part of the seeker who continues until he wins
(17b, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27). The conservative element of the popula-
tion, the grandmother, the grandfather or Mole, the highly cautious
character gives the warning. Their viewpoint is: Don't try anything
new or unusual because there is no reason to suppose you will succeed
but, if you will try it, here is something which will help. Do this, do
that, use this aid which I can give you. If the project is a success in
spite of dire prophecies, as it usually is, the greater is the honor of the
achievement. The myths reflect the Coeur d'Alene attitude of fatality,
but with it goes dogged determination and it is not unusual to find indi-
viduals actually succeeding in tasks which require long and persistent
effort.
24 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Perhaps the most valued ethic among Indians is hospitality. It should
be differentiated, I think, from generosity, which is not considered in
the same way. It is almost impossible for an Indian to refuse anyone a
meal. Even nowadays when food is not always plentiful, due more to
improvidence than to actual poverty, there is a feeling of smallness and
shame if guests cannot be fed. Catbird's grandmother deserted him be-
cause he was stingy with his fish (22). The ideal treatment of a guest is
to urge him to eat all he possibly can, to spare nothing, then to take home
what remains for, in a properly-run household much does remain (2, 8,
9). Even when food is very scarce, the little is shared (1). The
sympathy of the Coeur d'Alene is with the boy who took good food from
his parents without permission because "one should not think more of
food than of his children" (46). Fisher urged himself not to be stingy
with the good food, even though Skunk's request for it was unusual
(23). Deprecatory individuals ask for scraps (23).
Jealousy is frequently manifested, as is pride. Coyote's boastfulness
and vanity were often due to jealousy. He was jealous of Mole and he
did not understand her. She was conservative and cautious, he was im-
pulsive and thoughtless. She had power and he had none. He was envious
of hunting power possessed by Lynx (9, b) and Crane (8). Quiet
manifestation of the qualities which make for success infuriated him.
Fisher was jealous of any success his partner, Skunk, might have with
the Squirrel girls. The older sister was violently scornful of her younger
sister because the latter 's husband was so ugly but, as soon as he became
handsome, she wanted him for herself (23).
Pride, in the myths as well as in reality, is often expressed by silence.
Splinter Leg is a good example of pride even in humble circumstances
and is typical of other actors in the same story ( 1 ) . "You find us humble.
You honor a humble home" is polite acknowledgment of conditions which
the host does not necessarily believe are modest. An appearance of
humility or modesty is admired. Bluebird thought his coat, really the
most beautiful of them all, too modest to offer as damages to the chief's
daughter (9a, b). The really great do not boast or brag of their power
and exploits. That part they may leave to Coyote but, when occasion
arises, they quietly and modestly use their influence and accomplish
marvels.
STYLISTIC DEVICES
The specific character of a given myth-body is affected by a selection
of details rather than by the more general use of episode, plot, motiva-
tion and the like. The same is true in plastic art. Principles upon which
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 25
composition is based, elements used in composition or technique, may be
of very wide distribution, but the selection of these various factors,
their recombination and working out, these are the details which put feel-
ing into the art and determine its style. We have already seen that Coeur
d'Alene mythology gains much of its flavor through characterization.
Even more striking effects are secured by linguistic and rhetorical de-
vices, the first of which are inherent in the language, the second open
to a wide range of choice.
Coeur d'Alene is a member of the Salish linguistic family, most of the
dialects of which use duplication, reduplication or both as a morpho-
logical device. In Coeur d'Alene this feature is also highly developed
and plays an important part in creating effects. Reduplication is used
for expressing plurality, diminutive, continuative, iterative and dis-
tributive.
It is not difficult to understand how such a morphological device may
affect the literary style in a marked degree, especially if the people using
it play with it. Words themselves which are duplications, for instance,
rilril, xwi'u xwi'u, the names of birds, yapiyapen "man-eater," give a
distinct character to sentences and the tale may gain much of its effect
from the use of duplication. The story Cricket rides Coyote (20) owes
its humor to the fact that combinations of comic sounds are repeated
until the story becomes side-splitting. This is only one of many examples
which shows how impossible it is to carry over the spirit of the tale
into a language like English, which has no machinery for the expression
of such an effect. Another tale which demonstrates the same device used
to achieve a different result is that of Catbird (22). He was tiny and
babyish, so all of his things and behavior must correspond. The only way
we have of expressing diminutive is by adding "little." "Then this
little bird hung up in a little way his little moccasins on a little hook."
It sounds silly in English and at once becomes monotonous. There is
no way, even ungracefully, to express diminution in a verb, and conse-
quently our translation of this tale sounds like the rest. In the Coeur
d'Alene rendering the diminutive element establishes a setting which is
as rhetorical as it is linguistic. By this grammatical device alone a con-
trast between the smallness of Catbird and the bigness of Elk, Wolf and
others is established which is purely literary. The enjoyment felt by the
narrator and listeners is shown by the light in the eye and the expression
on their faces and they will tell you "The story of Catbird is 'awful
cute.' "
Coeur d'Alene has a method of expressing subordination. The same
particle is used for all sorts of dependent clauses whether adverbial,
relative or participial, but it is not a favorite means of expression. "Cat-
26 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
bird went to tell his grandmother that the Wolves had stolen his meat."
The language has the machinery for the expression of this sentence,
but the Coeur d'Alene prefers to say, "Catbird went. He went to his
grandmother. He told her, 'The Wolves have stolen my meat.' " The
result is that instead of long periods there are short staccato sentences
which express all that is necessary and primarily emphasize action. Con-
tinually there are quotes within quotes and this habit gives a definite
character to the style which superficially looks like a language deficiency.
Actually it is a choice of definite simplicity in preference to bluffing
prolixity.
A third linguistic peculiarity is noticeable and pleasing even to those
not understanding the language; to those who do understand it, it is a
constant source of delight. It is a tendency to lengthen the vowel with a
voice glide from high or very high to low to express "much," "many"
and the like, xwist, "he went," but xwi • • • st "far he went," and xwi •• - st,
"very, very far he went." This device can be well expressed in English
phonetically, but it cannot be easily expressed orthographically. "He is
lazy," but "He is la • • • zy." The former is a mere disinterested state-
ment of a fact, the latter a special emphasis on the fact that he is too
lazy to live, disgustingly lazy or something of the kind. Pitch accent is
much used in Coeur d'Alene as in every language, but this is its only
grammatical use. It takes the place of a superlative here, if we may say
that there is a superlative in verbs. It adds zest to the narrative effect.
A number of rhetorical devices are used, not all corresponding exactly
to our own. One of the most frequent is what I shall call "obscure
simile." A continually occurring phrase in Dorothy's narratives is "He
did it. He did like this." Then instead of saying what he did she acted it.
She sometimes employed a simple gesture or performed a little act.
There is no way of recording such a habit and in reading the tale the
effect is totally lost. Feebly I indicate the gestures but despair of carrying
over the life put into the tale. Gesture and action are commonly used
by Indian narrators and perhaps nothing can be done to capture artificially
what they add to the enjoyment of the myths. Tom, unlike Dorothy,
completed the simile in words, although he sometimes accompanied them
with acting. I was once astounded when he got up from his chair, went
out the door, lay down on his stomach on the porch and worked his way
in, crawling sneakingly as one would up to a tent in the dark. During
all this pantomime he had been telling the story and when this scene
was finished he returned to his chair and quietly continued.
The discussion of characterization shows to what extent personifica-
tion is used. Besides attributing human behavior to animals the Coeur
d'Alene assign it to natural phenomena as, for instance, to Thunder
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 27
(25) whose power lay in his shirts or to Wind (21) who had long curly
hair, big eyes and a wide mouth. Personification is so common and so
apparent that a discussion of its use need not be prolonged.
Repetition is used universally in art and literature, but there are
various ways in which it may be managed. Words, phrases, episodes or
incidents may be repeated. The unit of repetition is different in various
tribes. Among the Wailaki of Northern California, for example, the
passage of time is shown by repetition. There is no hesitancy on the
part of a narrator to reiterate the same phrase ad nauseam to show that
his hero stayed at a place for a year. In some tribes the unit of repeti-
tion is nine, in others, five ; a thought, act or phrase is repeated a stereo-
typed number of times. Among the Coeur d'Alene this unit is four.
Persons or objects commonly come by fours; actions are repeated four
times. Four helpers belong to Coyote, the man who lost his wife was
given four needles and later four feathers to help him get to Thunder
(25). Coyote had four sons; there were four mosquito brothers and
one little one with strong power (28). The purification ceremony of
sweating and bathing was carried out on four different days (41) ;
Waterbird slept four days by mistake (26). Repetition is however not
consistently fourfold ; two is sometimes used. Dorothy usually, when not
sure of the time elapsed, said, "Long, I don't know how long, I guess
two days," showing that four was not dominant in her mind. Not
seldom there were only two sons or two daughters in a family or at
least only two are mentioned.
As a mode of plot development the use of thought or direction by a
third party and the repetition of that thought or direction by the
protagonist has been noted. These repetitions are given in direct dis-
course and illustrate how the same device may be used for plot develop-
ment and as a stylistic element.
Perhaps the most outstanding aspect of repetition used by the Coeur
d'Alene is the constant use of formal phrases. Major actors have char-
acterizing sayings. Other sayings are stereotyped for given occasions.
In a contest Coyote says, "It must be the child of my first-born" (9b).
Coyote always uses "my daughter's child," for "my son's child" (9b).
His inability to get the kin-terms correct illustrates his stupidity. He
says when importuning his powers, "My power relatives, you give a
person the chills." Another of his nonsensical but nevertheless func-
tional speeches is, "My father's father's father knew that trick, too" (8,
18), or "My father and his father and his father had that name for their
dogs" (2), thus adding time and tradition to the weight of his boast.
When Wolf or Thunder or someone with much power is thwarted, he
says, "There is no place on earth I do not know" (22, 23, 24, 25). It
28 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
is equivalent to saying, "There is no place on earth where he can hide
from me. I will surely find him," and the actor thereby indicates his
intention to make a thorough search.
Catbird's grandmother always reacted to his proposals with a phrase
meaning "Impossible ! Scandalous even to think of it !" This phrase is
typical of Coeur d'Alene conservatives and other characters use
astonished words of warning which have essentially the same meaning.
Two formal greetings signifying welcome as well as expressed modesty
are, "You honor our humble home" (1) and at meal time, "We are
pitiable. We are poor. We have nothing to eat. We would have more
had we expected such an honorable guest, but you are welcome to the
little we have." "We are pitiable" is a common expression to gain
sympathy for many causes, for instance, when begging for mercy, when
pointing out a bad circumstance or offering sympathy, when announcing
disaster (1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 18, 21, 22, 25).
A formal turn of phrase often used is dependent on a Coeur d'Alene
verb stem, "No longer are you (or is he) a decent person." The stem
signifies, "decent, refined, cultivated, adaptable, trained, well-behaved."
Perhaps "civilized" would be a good translation. The son of Dentalium
Girl was "no longer a real person" after growing up with the man-eating
women (24). A woman stolen by Thunder was no longer a "decent
person" (25) ; the wife of Waterbird degenerated from living with the
Snakes, people who were not of her kind.
There are other sayings commonly used but not often repeated in the
myths. "There is a hole in his moccasin near the big toe," is a "mean"
expression used by a person who is jealous to indicate "He is longing
for some other woman" (4). When something important is about to
happen, people may say, "Beaver's older sister is going upstream,
Beaver's younger sister is going downstream."
The introduction and conclusion of narratives are usually formal. The
most common introductions have been noted. The ordinary conclusion
is a variation on the theme "I have come to the end of the trail." (This
may be a false etymology as the natives do not translate the word.)
This is sometimes extended into the ending "the little bird sat on a
tree at the end of the road and was shot."
Actors are recognized by the sounds they make which constitute a
characterizing device. It is not proper in my opinion to call this use of
sound onomatopeia, because the sounds have no meaning apart from the
characters who use them, nor do the Coeur d'Alene feel that they are
the noises which the given animals necessarily make, although this may
occasionally be the case. The abundant use of sounds is one of the most
striking factors of Coeur d'Alene style.
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology
29
Most people snore xuxu (Thunder [25], the Nez Perce [43]) but
Coyote asleep makes the sound xwu xwu (13). This conforms to his
habit of distorting and exaggerating.
There are many of these sounds but a short list will suffice for illustra-
tion:
p'ap'aq' a "bad-sounding" noise made by Skunk (23)
tcisasat'at' a "nice" noise made ordinarily by Fisher (23)
olu'lu'lu' noise made by Fisher when he dives (1)
tsalala noise made by Kingfisher diving (1)
ona'na'na'n noise made by Magpie's children eating (9)
ots'ats'at noise made by Rabbit's children eating (9)
patatsat noise made by Chipmunk hopping (25)
nalnata noise made by another squirrel hopping (25)
mu mu mu noise made by bones being transformed to dentalia (24)
t'a t'a t'a Cricket's sound (18)
oyurayura Grizzly's sound (5)
qwar qwar Crane's sound (very disagreeable sounding to Coyote) (8)
olcar tear Raven's sound (9)
op'axp'axp'ax sound made by Snowshoes on snow (33)
opampam noise of bow (27)
opatsatsa sound of Snake's stick hitting Chipmunk (32)
ola'u ola'u sound of "pans" in Coyote's ear (6)
xuts xuts xuts sound of bone breaking (sounds "awful") (31)
otsaxtsax sound of teeth grinding (38)
ludidi ludidi sound of spiders spinning (4)
The use of sounds is not restricted to noises but they may even ex-
press feeling:
anininin pain felt by Meadowlark when her leg bones have been broken
dnitnim feeling of pain when Splinter Leg carves his own leg bone (1)
alilili feeling of cold water on the body (22)
tsaskaninin feeling of Catbird passing through Elk's nose (22)
halalas phrase with which Mole introduces herself (6)
Since feelings as well as noises are expressed by sounds and since there
are verb stems of an entirely different nature which might in themselves
be considered onomatopoeic, this wide use of sounds seems to be onoma-
topoeia at least in exactly our sense of the word.
Another important element of the myth-body may be stressed in an
analysis of this kind but lends nothing to the myths in free translation
because it must be garbled or omitted; that is, the use of song. Char-
acters have their special songs which are a part of the narrative, but
frequently they consist of meaningless syllables or incomprehensible
words. If the words have a meaning it is often given in a language
30 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
other than Coeur d'Alene. The fact that another language is used adds
an elusive element of humor to the tale which cannot be caught even in
the best translation. The song of Catbird which, by changing a short
syllable of each of two words changes the entire connotation of the
sentence, loses most of its point when translated. The original gives the
notion of contrast between Catbird's smallness and cleverness and Wolf's
bulk and trickiness. The best I can do is to call attention to the fact
that song is much favored by the Coeur d'Alene as a part of their tales,
that it is a characterizing factor and that it is frequently expressed in
a language which is not Coeur d'Alene (1, 8, 12, 18, 22, 30).
The most common modes of making an appeal are by humor, pathos,
bathos, macabre and sarcasm. A question frequently asked of an
anthropologist by those not acquainted with Indians is, "Do they have
any sense of humor?" Of the Indians I have met in the course of
twenty years of fieldwork, I recall only one who had no sense of humor,
as large a proportion, I suspect, as among our own population. I have
the impression that the Coeur d'Alene are especially gifted in this
respect I speak now of individuals who show great wit and whimsicality,
as well as of development of humor in the tales. Perhaps I should say
that this feature of their literature has been especially cultivated.
It is frequently noted that humor among Indians is obscene. This type
is by no means lacking among the Coeur d'Alene (1, 5, 7, 8, 23) and
it is duly enjoyed, but they do not by any means depend upon obscenity
to furnish comedy. Humor is primarily of two kinds, that of language
and that of situation. The Coeur d'Alene play with words delightfully.
Puns are used (7, 22) but they are more numerous in conversation
than in myth. The use of foreign phrases transforms a tale from ordi-
nary to riotous. The inclusion of a Spokan or Flathead sentence, either
of which sounds like bad Coeur d'Alene, sometimes gives rise to un-
controllable laughter.
Phrases from unrelated languages like Nez Perce are also much en-
joyed. The element of incorrectness seems to be comic, for Coeur
d'Alene words mispronounced are equally hilarious. Coyote was the
greatest linguistic clown. He always said, "gr-gr-gr-father" for "grand-
father" ; histomc for hisctomc "my friend," to Fox ; "my daughter's
child" for "my son's child."
Of importance equal to play with language is the humor of situation.
Coyote most often is the butt of the jest, but he sometimes has a chance
to laugh at others. Coyote displaying his vanity by wearing Nighthawk's
coat, could not stay on the ground but kept jerking upward the way
Nighthawk flies (19). The ruse Bullfrog played on the people to see
Chief Child of the Root is amusing for its cleverness. No one of the
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 31
crowd would move aside so she could see him. When she requested
them to move, they asked why such an ugly thing wanted to see. Because
she quietly sent a rain so heavy that no place but hers was dry enough
for a fire, the Chief came to her house and she was able to take a good
look at him ( 1 ) .
The whole story of Cricket riding Coyote (20) is comic because, in
addition to the situation, there is constant use of reduplicated stems even
ordinarily composed of amusing combinations of consonants. Crane was
accustomed to hang a deer on each side of his belt because he had power
to put "much in little." Coyote's great grandfather also knew the trick,
he said, so he also tried it. One can enjoy his discomfiture when, al-
though he had only two fawns as his kill, he staggered along with them
constantly becoming heavier and dragging him down. Besides impeding
his progress, the weight tore at his belt and he was constantly hitching
up his load (8). Those who appreciate the mimicry of the toothless aged
will enjoy the scene where Coyote refuses food — the very fact of
Coyote's refusing food is comic — because he has no teeth. He lies
snoring with his mouth open and his toothlessness of which he is ashamed
is exposed to Pine Squirrel, the person he wants most to impress (13).
When Dentalium Girl selected a husband, Mudhen wanted her to
choose Redheaded Woodpecker, her grandson. When it looked as if
she were going to pass him by Mudhen pushed him forward, pushed
him, so to speak, into the arms of the girl (24).
In contrast to humor pathos makes a strong appeal. Desertion always
gives rise to pathetic situations, the details of which are handled ef-
fectively. Lonesomeness is frequently stressed. Coyote's grief at the
loss of his sons, in this case genuine, his struggle to keep little Beaver
and the resultant reward are vividly portrayed in the story of Little
Beaver (5). The utter hopelessness of the deserted is a Coeur d'Alene
convention. To me the most moving tale of all is the story of the mother
whose baby son was kidnapped and her struggle to get him back. After
journeying for years from her own home to that of the man-eaters who
had stolen him, she was obliged to prove that he belonged to her. He
had in this time grown to manhood and was "not decent" because of his
environment. Against time and bad training as well as against man-eating
power she must exert her will. Even after she broke down her son's
mental resistance, she had to demonstrate by physical means her right
to the title of "mother." After she had freed him from his bondage to
the man-eaters she did not try to chain him to her but, even though it
grieved her almost as much as his sojourn with the evil women who
stole him, she left him to his element, water, while she sought hers, the
forest (24).
32 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Lonesomeness in life as in myth is tragic to the Coeur d'Alene. The
same causes give rise to loneliness as among ourselves, desertion, death
and separation (4, 24). A common phrase in life is, "Poor thing! She
is pitiable. She has no one. Her daughter died. Her sons are away. She
is all alone."
Pathos sometimes gets in its full appeal and then relaxes. Coyote's
cry of despair arouses undue sympathy until it is learned that he has
left his spittle to cry for him while he is playing a trick (4). When the
chief and his people were starving after leaving Lynx and his wife they
heard peculiar noises from the home of Magpie and Rabbit who lived
together. "Go help them if you can. Perhaps the poor things are dying,"
ordered the chief. The messengers reported that they were so hungry
they were eating moss. The fact was that with one side of the mouth
they were eating strips of grease which Lynx had given them and from
the other side moss hung down to fool peepers, so that the sympathy
was wasted (9a, b).
The discussion of cruelty gives some idea of the use of macabre. Once
more Coyote is the protagonist for he stops at nothing, be it humorous,
pathetic or gruesome. Coyote not only killed his neighbor, Deer, but
tortured him before he died. Coyote's arguments with Mole who, through
pity tried to help Deer, add humor to the situation. This story continues
to show Coyote in his worst light, for he not only destroyed the whole
Deer family, but he cruelly killed his own sons also and was about to
devour his little daughter when thwarted by Mole (6).
The account of the adventure during which Coyote loses his eyes is
gruesome in the extreme. The deceit he used with the Pheasant children
and the terrible condition he left them in is the extreme of cold-blooded-
ness. There is however even in this episode an element of wit. The con-
ception of Eye Juggling (7) is not an appealing one, yet the episode
illustrates a use of a kind of humor much more widespread than the
Coeur d'Alene area.
One of the best defences the Coeur d'Alene has against his present
social environment is satire. He is proud. Even before the coming of
the Whites he admired some of his neighbors and despised others. These
attitudes were expressed indirectly by satiric remarks. It is no wonder
then that he turns this weapon against the intruders in his country. The
way in which the story of Little Beaver (5) is interpreted nowadays is
interesting. The Grizzly is thought of as Washington, that is, the U. S.
Government, the hard food is the humiliation constantly borne by the
Indians and the gradual encroachment upon their lands and rights, the
interpreters are traitor Coyotes. The Spokan, with whom the Coeur
d'Alene were usually at peace, come in for a dig when Coyote creates the
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 33
tribes. He was all finished with cutting up Gobbler and throwing about
pieces which finally became the various tribes. Then he looked at his
hands, noticed they were bloody and wiped them on some grass. He threw
the grass away and the blood on it became the Spokan. "That is the
reason they have always been so poor."
There is no great opportunity for comparing individual styles of the
Coeur d'Alene, since there were only three informants. There are how-
ever two narratives told by each of the two informants who knew myths
and the style of the historical narratives may also be compared. A brief
description of my two main informants will account for the difference
in the style of their versions as it is primarily a matter of temperament.
Dorothy Nicodemus was the widow of Nicodemus who gave Teit most
of the material in his Coeur d'Alene ethnology. Nicodemus died many
years ago. Dorothy was an eager and interested student of his lore, she
had a good memory and took great pride in her knowledge. She was
over seventy at the time the tales were recorded and her own experiences
alone provided much of interest. Some of them were bitter, but she had
a kindly temperament and a sweet disposition. As a result she was fre-
quently exploited. During the last few years she gradually became totally
blind and was consequently quite dependent upon others. She managed
however to catch muskrats in her brook, to cook for herself and for her
sons and grandson when they were home and to perform other necessary
tasks. She enjoyed company and loved to tell stories. All the acts of the
■tales were graphic and alive to her and by intonation and gesture she
added much to the intrinsic nature of the style. I have mentioned before
her habit — a bad one from our point of view — of using "like this he
did," the simile depending upon gesture and act rather than upon words.
She preferred to retain old forms in her tales and almost never con-
sciously brought in modernities. She could explain some phrases only by
saying, "It belongs to the story." She was just as conservative in her
outlook on life. Spiritually she belonged to the days when the Coeur
d'Alene possessed and used the rivers, lakes, forests and prairies as
fishing, hunting and digging grounds. Her style reflected this attitude
and nothing materially or even intangibly modern changed it. Her humor
was quiet but copious. She appreciated a joke with the best and she had
many at her tongue's end.
Tom Miyal was a nice contrast to Dorothy. His humor was active and
continuous. Everyone expected a joke from Tom, even if he was seen
for only a moment on the street or in passing. In a gathering a running
stream of wisecracks was expected from him. He was invariably good-
tempered and it was said that he could always be depended upon to
make fair judgments. Some of these characteristics were reflected in
34 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
his versions of the myths. Wit is the outstanding difference between his
and Dorothy's. Hers are humorous, whimsical ; his, sparkling, ridiculous.
One way in which he attained his effects is through the use of modern
elements. He has the Land People "phone" upriver to make a trap for
Snake (10). His vocabulary, which can be ascertained only by a detailed
comparison of the texts, differs considerably from Dorothy's, and he
was able by changing tone and accent, to make the use of foreign phrases
even funnier than they ordinarily sounded.
The recorded texts do not do justice to his style. He was primarily
concerned with movement, with action, with the development of the
myth. He had no conception of the slowness of some white recorders and
often had to be slowed down. Consequently some of his phrases are lost.
A summary of the means by which the Coeur d'Alene achieve effects,
when compared with other literary styles, shows some noticeable nega-
tives. In comparison with the Thompson tales, for instance, extreme
localization as a stylistic factor is absent. Every Coeur d'Alene narrative
has its local setting even if it is not mentioned in the tale, but in only
one case is it used to explain the appearance of natural phenomena as
they exist today. When Coyote went to the Coeur d'Alene after securing
the salmon he made a little dam in the lake where he hid them. The
rocks can now be seen on Lake Coeur d'Alene, showing where Coyote
set up his sticks (8). Even without Thompson texts, this type of treat-
ment is striking1 and just as remarkable is its absence from Coeur
d'Alene tales.
Several other conventionalizations, marked in other styles, are not
used in Coeur d'Alene ; namely, color and poetic allusions to natural
phenomena like clouds, mists, mountains or stars. True, Thunder —
thunder and lightning are identical — is an actor, and an important one,
and mountains are used as settings, as are rivers and lakes, but through-
out the myth-body these elements are utilitarian and objective rather
than a matter of adornment. A comparison with other styles will make
clear this lack. The Navajo myth is inconceivable without the stress laid
on color, on rain streamers, rainbows, sky curtains and sunbeams. It is
difficult to think of Pawnee mythology without starlore, of Hawaiian
literature without a curtain of mist. Mole in her red dress is the only
dash of color in the grayness of the Coeur d'Alene camas flat. There
are a few Coeur d'Alene tales which end with transformations into stars,
but they are, like Thunder, Cold and Heat, a matter of fact and not of
poetry. Contacts between Earth People and Sky People are not numerous
and the few there are contain no speculative imagery.
XMAFLS 11.
The Style of Coeur d'Alene Mythology 35
The body of Coeur d'Alene mythology which has been examined in
minute detail is small but demonstrates clearly the conventionalizations
which compose the style. Plots and motivations are not unique but are
those used in a large part of North America. Several episodes are char-
acteristic of Coeur d'Alene and the unification of episodes shows certain
peculiarities. The characterizations and stylistic devices, both linguistic
and rhetorical, are of greatest importance in achieving effects. Of these
those which contribute the most, cannot be adequately rendered in Eng-
lish : reduplication, vowel lengthening, sound, song and gesture. Such
unfamiliar devices are capable of adding greatly to the total effect.
The essential impression is that of action. Coeur d'Alene stories never
drag; they move and frequently they move fast. The action is staccato
in effect. The emphasis on situation is strong and there is a keen
psychological understanding of human nature. There have been numerous
examples of tolerance and understanding of human foibles, and the brief
historical tale illustrates them further. The Boy of My Story (42)
could hardly have been in a more dangerous position than when his
camp was attacked by the enemy. At a warning from his mother he
had jumped up out of a sound sleep and started to run with her. Sud-
denly he bethought himself of the new little suit his mother had made
for him to wear after his quest for a vision. The securing of the suit
became more important to him at the moment than life itself. He ran
back for it and, in the split second it took to grasp it from under his
pillow, his eye caught the prone form of his father. His mind was on
his suit, his eye on his father, at the moment when a shot came from
the enemy. In that instant he retained the presence of mind to fall flat
on the ground. Thus the story catches the swift essential points of a
dramatic moment. The Coeur d'Alene language is peculiarly fitted to
portray them adequately. An outstanding characteristic of the narratives
is vividness, which is achieved primarily because the Coeur d'Alene have
a sense for the dramatic, embellish it with humor and traditionally select
linguistic and rhetorical elements.
CHAPTER III
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology
In addition to stressing the style of the tales I take occasion to point
out the more unusual reflections of culture in them whether they are
implicit or explicit. Such hints have particular value in the case of a
culture like this one since details from other sources are so incomplete.
The facts are avowedly fragmentary but some corroborate, a few
contradict and others add to, our knowledge of the life as described by
Teit (ARBAE 45 :23-396).
Material culture and economic life. The general pattern of the material
culture is quite well known since it differs little from that of the Salish
and northern Plateau neighbors, the Flathead, Okanagan, and Nez
Perce, for example. However there are a few interesting differences.
The myths most often mention only the general features of material and
economic life, taking for granted perhaps that everyone knows the
details.
Points were fastened to arrowshafts with pitch. Little Beaver's mother
split the toe next to the small one so he could catch a coal to melt pitch
for fastening his arrow as he stumbled through the fire at Grizzly
Bear's home (5). It was the custom to fix the arrows just before using
them, for Little Beaver carried his points in his hair and, after securing
a coal, sat down and attached them to the shafts. Coyote prepared his
arrow and set it to dry when he contemplated killing Deer (6). In the
myths feathers of half-grown eagles were used for arrows. Grizzly was
the expert arrow feather er (22). Curiously enough Teit does not men-
tion eagle feathers for arrows but only those of hawk and grouse
(ARBAE 45:99).
Teit (ARBAE 45:97) has not identified the bowwood but it is
probably yew. This wood was used by Catbird for his bow (22).
The use of grass thread is mentioned, but there are no details as to
its character (4; and cp. ARBAE 45:47).
Coyote gathered cedar bark for a bucket which he made on the spot
for immediate use (6). A bucket, not further described, was one of
Coyote's favorite utensils. He tried to kill badger because one of her
children took it from the house (15).
Constant references are made to the house of mats but there is no
description of them in the myths. They seem to refer to the conical mat
36
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 37
lodge described by Teit (ARBAE 45:58). In tale 4 Black Swan,
Coyote's daughter-in-law, was probably carrying the mats. There was
some kind of a vestibule, not adequately described by the informants,
where things were stored. This seems to be referred to in tale 23, when
Skunk offered food to the Squirrel girls. There was some discussion, not
definitely agreed upon, as to whether the Squirrel girls were hidden in
this place or under Skunk's and Fisher's beds. Small personal objects
were hidden under the mats which served as beds and pillows and even
today the Coeur d'Alene keep their most cherished small articles among
the bed-clothing or under mattress or pillow. Turtle, after scalping the
Nez Perce chief, hid under his pillow (37). One type of revenge was
to burn the house of an enemy (1, 22, 37).
One of the rush mats served as a door curtain. "To peep into a house"
is really "to crawl up to the house and pull aside the curtain" (3).
When the chief's two daughters came to Crane's house, hungry as they
were for meat, they saw a door curtain ornamented with cooked camas
(8). It is interesting to observe the difference in the attitude of these
two girls surfeited with a vegetable diet and longing for meat and that
of Hansel and Gretel when they came to the house made of sugar.
European luxury was lost on the Coeur d'Alene girls. The description
of Raven's entrance into the house (9) shows it to have been a long
house. He flew through the crack left open for smoke, entering at one
end, then along the ridge at the top of the house and between the poles
at the opposite end.
Punk was used. Fisher put a piece in the fire, and during the night
every time Skunk tried to visit the hidden Squirrel girls, Fisher kicked
the rotten log and the house was lighted so that Skunk was ashamed (23) .
The woven bag is a characteristic Plateau element. It is mentioned as
a matter of fact. Cricket kept his belongings in one (20). Among them
was a quantity of sinew thread which Coyote ate as soon as he found
it (cp. ARBAE 45:46). The Spiders (4) had control of the thread
supply and were the ideal weavers. Woodtick wove bags of Indian
hemp as a pastime (16).
Dentalium Girl and her husband, Redheaded Woodpecker, had a
baby. They made for it an ideal cradle board. The background of the
ornamentation was solid white with dentalia and it was dotted here and
there with tufts of the father's red head feathers (24) .
There are two references to magpie-skin blankets or robes but they
seem to be poetical allusions. Magpie and Rabbit each returned from
their journey offering their blankets to Lynx's child (9). Each of them
offered of course the only thing he had and it could not well have been
a deer or buffalo robe. The cruel boy of tale 27 poked out the eyes of
38 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
ten magpies, skinned them, dried the skins and made himself a robe.
Quite probably these are cases of exaggeration and do not reflect actual
conditions.
According to Teit (ARBAE 45 :82) ear pendants were made of
various shells. Nighthawk overcame the vengeful Rolling Rock by
shattering it (19). Coyote suggested that the bits be used for ear
ornaments. The informants knew in only the vaguest way of ear
ornaments made of beautiful stone.
The foods mentioned in the tales show considerable variety. The food
of animals is usually what they eat nowadays. The chief Coeur d'Alene
foods were the flesh of animals, fish and vegetable products of which
roots, especially camas, were the most important. Many references are
made to camas as well as to camas gathering. Differentiation is always
made between raw and cooked camas, and camas cooked with blood
(6, 28). The oven in which camas, wild onions and other roots and
vegetables are cooked for three days is referred to in tale 7, although
here the oven is used for cooking children instead. The brief description
corresponds with that given by Teit (ARBAE 45 :92).
In 1929 several of the old women still gathered the old foods and
baked them for a winter treat. Everyone in the tribe gets hungry for
them but few are willing to go to the trouble necessary.
Susan Antelope who was over eighty was famous for her camas. She spent at
least three weeks digging camas and wild onions and gathering the black moss
(Alectoria) which are much prized. When she was finished she spread them neatly
on the floor of the barn to dry and they were a lovely sight, the camas a silvery
white and the onions a purplish pink.
After these things had been gathered Mrs. Antelope spent several days collecting
big chunks of wood for her fire and pine bark which was used for the covering
next to the last layer of earth. When she was nearly ready to construct her oven,
she travelled a long distance to a place where a particular broad fleshy leaf was
found. This leaf gives the final excellent quality to the cooked camas. Everything
was now ready for the building of the structure. The entire family, mother, daugh-
ter and two grandsons, worked for three days from early morning (about sunrise)
until dark cleaning, that is, skinning, the camas and onions. After all were cleaned
they were packed in burlap sacks, each kind by itself.
A pit about three feet deep was dug in which a fire was built and kept very hot
for several hours in order to heat the rocks which had been placed on the bottom
of the pit. Then the work of constructing the oven was begun. Mrs. Antelope's
grandson helped her with this part of the work. The coals were left in the pit and
the wood embers were shovelled out. Then the workers arranged grass on top of
the coals, on the layer of grass the sacks full of food, then the large fleshy leaves.
The steam emitted from the whole thing when these leaves were put on smelt
slightly sweet and very savory. Next came the bark and finally, earth covered the
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 39
entire structure. The burning brands were now placed against a circular fortifica-
tion of wood chunks and the fire was kept burning energetically. On the day chosen
for the baking there was a strong wind and nice judgment was required to keep
the fire sufficiently active to bake and at the same time to control the blaze so it
would not become dangerously hot. The result was an error on the side of caution
and Mrs. Antelope was much disappointed, two days later, upon cautiously sampling
her camas to find it was not done. They thereupon gathered old fence rails and
other fuel and in half a day more she was satisfied.
It has been my purpose by this lengthy and somewhat personal
description to give an idea of the amount of labor and patience in-
volved in the preparation of this food. It should be remembered how-
ever that "bakings" of this sort are not made often, for at each one a
large amount of food is prepared. Furthermore in the old days it was
not necessary to travel so far or to search so diligently in order to
gather the many specific things needed. Nevertheless even under the
best circumstances the amount of labor required was considerable, if
we were to count only the cleaning of the roots and the construction
of the oven.
It is not difficult to understand the satisfaction the Indians take in a
job of this kind well done, but it is not easy to describe. The word went
out when Mrs. Antelope's camas was finished. She made a special point
of sending some to her many friends. Others were especially invited to
the house. They all get hungry for the old food and Mrs. Antelope had
the reputation of making it the best. The "best" taste is due to the use
of the fleshy leaves. Most of the old women, even Susan's best friend
who helped her dig the roots, sprinkle sugar over their camas while
baking it. It improves the taste but is not "quite as good" as that secured
by steaming with the leaves.
After this digression let us turn once more to the consideration of
food used in the myths. Several roots are mentioned besides camas. The
root father of the Transformer ( 1 ) , had a yellow flower somewhat like
a sunflower but smaller. This was probably hogfennel (Peucedanum
officinale). It was not eaten by the Coeur d'Alene — perhaps that is why
it was a disgrace to have it as a father — but was baked by the Spokan.
The second wife of Dorothy's father was a Spokan who often prepared
it. Dorothy tried to eat it but it was too strong for her. She was sorry
she could not eat it because it was very nice-looking. When baked it split
open and looked like a very ripe apple.
There was a root (masmen) which had a bad odor and became black
after cooking. It did not taste bad though and was liked by many.
Coyote, in releasing the salmon, scared them away from certain places
by telling them the rivers had masmas roots (8). This food arouses
40 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
gustatory emotions comparable to those produced by Limburger cheese
or sauerkraut.
Another vegetable food mentioned is the serviceberry (8, 14, 44).
Coyote said the women could gather them in winter and enticed them to
the serviceberry flats only to disappoint them in the end.
References show equal stress on vegetable and animal food. The
quest for game is naturally a common element of plot or motivation.
Most parts of the animal were used. Deer lights were hanging in
quantities outside of Lynx's home (9), blood was kept in the paunch
of the deer (28), Coyote gave his daughter the head of the goose as a
delicacy (6). The entrails and the fat and meat toward the tail of the
animal were considered inferior. These were the parts modestly re-
quested by Skunk before the advent of the Squirrel girls (23). It is
said that "scraps" were usually given children. The boy of tale 46 got
tired of them and cut himself a piece of good meat without asking. These
scraps were probably somewhat like those which constituted Skunk's
daily diet.
Hard times were in sight when there was nothing but blood to eat
(6, 24). The fact that nothing but a fawn was secured in a hunt is
symbolic of scarcity (8, 9). There were many evidences of plenty
at Lynx's (9), Woodtick's (16) and Crane's (18) homes, as well as at
the dance house Coyote visited (7) and in other places. Deer lights,
bladders containing fat (7), rabbit skins (1) and meat hanging to dry
gave such evidence. The Coeur d'Alene ideal was that after all guests
ate until they were surfeited much should be left for them to take home.
A parent would not eat all he wanted without reserving some for his
children. If there did not seem to be enough he would surreptitiously
tuck some away (9). Grease was appreciated for various purposes.
Strips of dried fat were a great delicacy. This food was given to
Magpie and Rabbit by Lynx, a delicate compliment by which he ex-
pressed his gratitude for their aid to his wife (9). The girls who visited
Crane were urged to eat all they wished when they quietly discussed
keeping out some fat to be used as "cold cream" for their hands, as
Crane promised they should take plenty along home (8). Coyote got
into trouble because of his liking for fat. He was given fat as medicine
with the injunction not to look at it, disobeyed and ate it, thus becoming
blind a second time. He snapped at the bladders full of fat hanging
from the roof of the dance house and they became rocks which covered
him (7). The disk which Sun possessed and which the Coyotes and
Antelopes struggled for is described as a disk of tallow (3), as is the
toy Lynx's little boy played with (9). Grizzly was attracted by the fat
in the trap which was one of Coyote's powers (5). In spite of his un-
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 41
usual greediness for fat Coyote complained bitterly when he got nothing
but bones and fat in the house supplied by Lynx (9).
Marrow was eaten and Coyote was voracious enough to be tempted
by his own marrow (7).
Peculiarities in food habits are as follows : Coyote bragged of his
children eating rosehips (3). When Coyote was at the end of his string
he ate two mice (2). References to such straits are considered very
funny and do not seem to have any connection with the fact that the
mice were his aunties. Cricket ate grass and was killed by Coyote's kind-
ness in forcing him to eat rich fat (18). Deer ate earth (6) perhaps
for its salt, a habit which Coyote could not understand. Grizzly, the
man-catcher, gave his guests something so hard that only a trained per-
son could eat it. This was doubtless something supernatural (5).
Numerous references are made to fishing (1, 47) but there is nothing
specific or unusual about it except where it is avowedly mysterious (22,
27). There are brief allusions to fishing by torchlight (10, 27; cp.
ARBAE 45:106).
Several methods of hunting are partially described in the myths. One,
that of driving the deer toward scorched pieces of skin, was used by
Crane (8). The description is not very full but, as given by Teit
(ARBAE 45 :102), is quite satisfactory. The other is hunting by means
of a so-called fire corral. A fire ring was built around a large tract so
as to call the animals to run toward the center where the hunters waited
(12, 40). It was a method of hunting not generally esteemed because
of its danger (40; cp. ARBAE 45:102).
The myths carefully enjoin hunters to take not more than two deer
apiece (8, 13). Coyote disobeyed the leader's orders and came off with
merely a fawn. Teit does not mention any limit to the number of
animals which could be captured. More commonly when any kind of
drive was undertaken all game within the area was taken (ARBAE
45:101 ff.). The mythological limitation is quite in line with Coeur
d'Alene conservation principles but, if too much game was secured at
one time, it is quite likely none was wasted but the surplus was dried
and kept for future use.
Cricket secured an elk by scaring him over a cliff ; Catbird by crawling
into the elk's stomach and killing him (22). In both cases the animal
was butchered and the meat smoked on the spot. To skin the larger
animals a cut was made around the nose and one from nose to tail
anteriorly (13). Doubtless the meat of large animals was often smoked
before it was taken home (4, 22). In the story of Calling the Deer (16)
some of the cuts of meat are vaguely mentioned.
Teit mentions (ARBAE 45 :96) the snaring of small game. Ermine
was trapped especially for its pelt which is much prized for decoration.
42 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
The Ugly Husband was able to snare this cagey animal when all the
others failed (11).
Altogether if we depended upon mythology for our knowledge of
Coeur d'Alene material culture we should have only a vague and un-
satisfactory picture, for details are rarely mentioned and frequently the
things most obvious to the Coeur d'Alene are merely alluded to.
There were many ways of dressing the hair (ARBAE 45:83). The
description of the way Little Beaver's mother dressed his hair to show
he was grown up is not detailed enough to match exactly any of the
twenty styles described by Teit. She combed the hair, braided it and
folded it up behind, tied it and stuck the arrowpoints in it (5). Foreigners
were recognized by the way their hair was combed. The woman captured
by an enemy had had her hair combed differently and smeared with red
paint immediately after capture for, when she returned home after an
almost miraculous escape, the first remark of her friends and relatives
was, "Who combed you that way?" (44).
The custom of combing the hair of a spouse or child as a mark of
intimacy was the rule (11) among the Coeur d'Alene as among most
Indians. Delousing was also considered a sign of affection. Coyote,
hypocrite that he was, used it as a ruse to entice his sons to their
death (6).
Social Customs. Our notion of the spiritual side of Coeur d'Alene cul-
ture would be as sketchy as that of the material if we had only myths.
There are nevertheless a few additions which may be made to the data
already collected, but far more important is the understanding we may
get of the attitudes of the people toward these customs. These may be
learned only by witnessing the behavior of the people or by a study of
their criticism of it as expressed in the narratives.
The organization of the tribe was territorial (ARBAE 45 :150). Each
village or band had certain lands which they considered themselves
privileged to use. A few families forming a band or village group oc-
cupied a special territory. No one from another place could hunt or fish
there safely without permission. Trespass was resented. This was the
offense which got Muskrat into trouble with the Otter boys (30).
The territorial unit is what is constantly referred to by the introduc-
tion of the tales, "There was village. There was a chief," or "There were
houses, many houses." The position of the home of the actors is always
thought of with respect to the position of the chief's (Bald Eagle's)
house.
The method of obtaining a husband for a girl most frequently men-
tioned in the narratives was to send her to a chief as a kind of offering.
This was sometimes done by a poor man who wished to benefit his
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 43
daughters (8, 23, 41). Teit remarks (ARBAE 45 :170) that the honored
or wealthy man might refuse to take the girl for his wife but he rarely
did. The impression derived from the tales is that the man felt honored
and was glad to have the girls who were sent. For instance, Chief
Waxane went to the trouble of destroying the entire family of a man
who, under false pretenses, took the girl sent to him by the chief of
another tribe (41). To judge by the way in which this custom was re-
garded in story and in fact there is no reason to believe that the custom
was abused. It is likely that a single refusal would cause families to
consider the matter most carefully in the future and would thus for a
long time restrict the proposal on the part of the girl's family.
An example of marriage by touching is that where Coyote was pushed
by the Geese brothers from one bed to another until he touched their
sister and by so touching her became her husband (cp. MAM 2:324).
Dentalium Girl was allowed to choose her husband directly but was
influenced by Mudhen, the grandmother of Redheaded Woodpecker,
who had intercepted her on the way to the gathering (24: cp. ARBAE
45:170).
Teit does not mention the practice of polygamy which was allowable,
even common. Usually there were not more than two wives. A chief
sent two of his daughters to Crane who married both (8). Two of the
Squirrel girls were sent to Fisher and were coveted by Skunk but, after
a struggle, were taken as wives by Fisher (23). Coyote's son had two
wives on earth, Black Swan and Tern, and in the Sky country he mar-
ried several Beaver girls (4).
According to Teit the girl's family gave gifts to the man's only when
they were sent to the man as in the form of marriage described just
above. Usually the man's family gave gifts to the other side. "As far
as remembered," writes Teit (ARBAE 45:170), "there was no con-
veyance ceremony whereby the bride was conducted back to her people
and presents interchanged." Although there is no evidence that it was a
conveyance ceremony there was a feeling that, after the birth of a child
to a couple, one of whom was living at a distance from his parents, a
visit which seems to be ceremonial should be made to the distant parent.
Coyote taunted Crane that he had nothing to give his in-laws (8). Each
of Crane's wives had a child and the purpose of the visit was to show
the children to their grandmother. A large quantity of meat was brought
as a present, enough for Crane's mother-in-law and for all her tribe.
The woman who married a dog (11) requested that they go back to
visit the husband's kinf oik. This may have been because they were both
misunderstood by the girl's own relatives rather than because of custom.
The two tales of the Water Monsters desiring human food seem to
44 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
show that a family expects the son-in-law to bring his wife and child
for a visit. That was how Catbird came into their power (22), and they
got the family of the cruel boy in the same way (27). Except for the
return of Crane no mention of gifts is made. It may be that, since gifts
are so commonly exchanged by visitors, there is no ceremonial sig-
nificance especially attaching to these visits of spouses to their in-laws.
A custom not noted by Teit is that of payment for damages. It was
important in settling feuds. The chief of tales 9a, b had done Lynx a
great injury by humiliating him and deserting his wife and child. Such
an offense could be atoned for only by offering, not only valuable gifts,
but the most precious things the offender possessed. In this case the
villagers took everything they could think of, but Lynx's wife scorned
their gift because the only thing she wanted was Bluebird's blue coat.
She finally got it and all was well once more with the village. This scene
of the Lynx story is in absolute agreement with actual life. After Chief
Waxane had revenged himself on the Ugly People for taking the girl
sent to him the mother and children were left. Then Waxane had his
people gather a pile of valuables which they gave to the survivors of the
Ugly People as damages before they took them into their village (41).
An amusing story from the childhood of Tom Miyal is another ex-
ample of how important it was considered that damages be paid. When
Tom was about eight or nine he had a fight with another small boy in
which he came out victorious. After the fight was over Tom was told
he must pay the boy to prevent ill feeling. Naturally a child had few
valuables, but Tom cherished a small cup of brown sugar. This he was
urged to give to the injured boy and he did so, but he never forgot how
much it pained him to do so.
A person offended draws his blanket up over his face and sulks (1,
4, 13). If the cause of his grief is an offense he answers nothing when
addressed by other members of the family or community. A woman does
not cook, a man refuses to hunt or fish. In such case it is the duty of
the others to discover, by sifting the possibilities — the aggrieved one
furnishes no clue — whereby they might have offended. If they hit upon
the right one they atone in some way, usually by yielding the point. It
can readily be guessed that it is not always easy to spot the transgressor.
If he is found there are all sorts of things which may be tried. Suppose,
for instance, a husband has offended his wife. He has been active all day
about many things any one of which might be a cause (4, 13). It some-
times requires several days of thought before a husband discovers what
his wife is sulking about. There is no doubt that in Coeur d'Alene circles
the system works. A man does not like to cook his own food, nor does
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 45
he enjoy living with a sulking woman so, as soon as he discovers the
cause, he sets about finding a remedy.
In life as it is today closely tied up with white culture the probabilities
for offense are too numerous and outsiders care too little to offer a
solution. Even then the Coeur d'Alene woman sulks until her husband
does something about it. One of my interpreters (a woman) and I had
been working in a most pleasant way with a man and his wife. They
made great sport over my grasp (!) of the language and for several
days we worked amicably. The informant was jolly and seemed to enjoy
the work. His wife listened to us, laughed at our jokes, and seemed in
every way to cooperate, even suggesting stories for him to tell. One day
however we went to their home to set a time for future work. This day
we found the exact story setting : "She was silent. She paid no attention.
She did not speak." It was almost impossible to get any information from
the wife. She answered in monosyllables. We decided to leave and gave
her a message for her husband. The interpreter was almost sure she
would not deliver our message that we were coming for more stories
early the next morning, so we acted on this basis and were there before
the informant could leave. We caught him just as he was driving off and
he promised to work the next day. We came at the appointed time. The
informant kept seriously to short tales ; he rarely laughed, had no vivacity
and at the end of the morning made many excuses (all ridiculous) as
to why he should not work with us any more. On this day his wife stayed
out of the room, came in only once or twice to get things and then did
not greet us but kept her eyes on the floor. The interpreter might have
been expected to have ascertained our offense. To date many years later
she is as much at sea as I am. She knows and I know that the woman
won. We can joke about it, she and the informant can joke about it (I
have this from a letter), but for our practical purposes the wife is still
sulking.
Situations like this are of course conducive to narrative. One can
easily imagine how a protagonist might try many solutions in vain and
thus spin out the tale indefinitely. However the custom is not used so
extensively as to become a repetitive device but only often and vividly
enough to show the custom clearly and to influence the plot.
According to the myths the appearance of grief after a death (or
desertion) was the same as that of sulking. The survivor pulled his
blanket up to his face, sat and wailed or just sat. Little Mosquito (28)
and the chief's daughter (9a, b) showed in this way their grief at being
deserted as did Coyote at the loss of his children (3). This ostentation
lasts four days. The mourner then gets up, purifies himself by sweating
and bathing and is ready for new experiences. The repetition of the
46 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
purification for four days is doubtless formal rather than actual for Teit
remarks that the period of mourning varied for different individuals
(ARBAE 45:175).
It was customary to wail over a corpse as evidenced by the historical
tale 40, and by observation.
Teit records that a death was announced. Myth furnishes additional
details about the method which was apparently used when people died
away from home. The announcement was made by hammering on a
canoe. The people then came out of their houses to hear who had died.
The ones in the canoe then chanted the name of the deceased (3).
Mourners, according to the myths, were accustomed to use "backward
talk." Instead of singing the praises of the deceased, they referred to
his defects. Coyote thus mourned for Cricket when he thought he was
dead (18):
"A wa wa, should I be mourning his big belly?
"A wa wa, should I grieve for his stitched-up belly?
"A wa wa, is it the back of his neck that is pitiable?
"A wa wa, should I mourn because he spits?"
When Coyote argued with Antelope (3) as to whose children had
been killed it was in the same vein, but one mentioned the defects of
the other's children:
Antelope: "My children are not so lazy they would be killed."
Coyote : "Do my children not go to rocky places and eat rosehips for
days on end?"
There is a hint (not corroborated by informants because they did not
remember it) that contamination with the dead was thought to spoil a
hunter's luck. After Coyote had killed Deer and his family he said
Mole might spoil his hunting luck (6). This may have been a general
belief but, on the other hand, it may have been Coyote's persistent scold-
ing. One should be wary, as are the Indians, of taking Coyote's behavior
as final evidence when no check is available.
The myths allude often enough to games but furnish us with no
additional information regarding them because they are not sufficiently
specific (cp. ARBAE 45:130). Coyote in Gobbler's stomach saw people
playing the hand game and "cards." They were also dancing the war
dance (2). Coyote and Fox gambled with the fish playing the hand
game (12). When Dorothy and her sister went on the buffalo hunt they
got acquainted with two Blackfoot girls and they used to play it. She
described it as follows. They had two little sticks just large enough to
hold in the closed hand. One was plain and one had a black band. The
player took one in each hand and sang. The opposite side guessed in
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 47
which hand the plain stick was. The counts were for sides. Little sticks
were laid on the ground and used for counters. These girls used to bet
a small string of beads or equivalent trifles (cp. ARBAE 45:131).
Coyote and his party used pheasant tails as pawns (12).
Chief Child of the Root played the hoop and pole game with Splinter
Leg ( 1 ) . This game was described by the informant exactly as Teit has
it (ARBAE 45:131).
Dancing was a favorite amusement (7) but no detailed description
of social dances is given. It was customary to have a war dance before
setting out on the warpath (37; ARBAE 45:188). Turtle scalped the
Nez Perqe chief, brought back his scalp and danced with it (37),
Coyote scalped Mrs. Deer (6), Snake held a war dance after he cap-
tured Salmon ( 10) . The stem for "dance a war dance" means "to make
fun of the enemy." There is no evidence in the myths of counting coup,
or of recital of war exploits although Teit records both as customary
(ARBAE 45:189).
Belief. A number of miscellaneous beliefs can hardly be put into any
category. Coyote's fear that Mole would spoil his hunting luck (6) has
been mentioned. It seems most likely that this was through fear of con-
tamination with the dead although Coyote himself was not free of it
for he had tortured Deer to death.
Dreams were undoubtedly thought of as prophecies (42, 44). Evil
befell him who persisted in the face of a dream warning. A boy who
was instructed to seek a vision had a pre-vision which portended danger
(42). This vision should be differentiated, I think, from dream and
the vision ordinarily sought and obtained by Indian boys. It is the
stereotyped sort learned from the Whites, a beautiful woman in a shining
light, the whole so dazzling as to stun the observer. Nevertheless the
prophecy was more powerful than the power the boys were to receive
in their own seeking for they were killed and only the one who obeyed
the woman was saved. This is of course an historical tale and it is easy
to see how this element comes into it, but it also suggests that the Coeur
d'Alene stressed their own "guardian spirit" interpretation of Catholicism.
A girl dreams that the enemy is near the women gathering service-
berries (44). Dreamers warn but are not heeded. Their warnings are
believed only after the damage has been done. There is no evidence
of dreams not coming true although the skeptical attitude suggests that
there must have been many false alarms.
There is great fear of the abnormal or the unusual. This is brought
out nicely in the experiences of the cruel boy who fished up incomplete
and unnatural fish (27). The same fear was exhibited in the en-
counters with dwarfs (39). They are small and hang upside-down on
48 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
branches of trees. Consequently one does not welcome meetings with
them.
One of the texts is a vivid description of a boy's quest for a guardian
spirit (42). According to Teit it was similar among the Coeur d'Alene
and Thompson (ARBAE 45:192). Boys and girls went through the
purification but boys secured guardians much more frequently than girls.
However if there were no boys in the family a girl could act as substitute.
Julia's mother's father had three daughters but no son. The oldest girl
secured a guardian which gave her sufficient power to help her father
when he made magic. She could, for instance, take hot stones out of the
fire with her hands without getting burnt.
Purification is carried on by means of sweating and bathing. The tale
Turtle's War Party suggests that people sweated every day, for the
people of the village passed the Chief's house on the way to the sweat-
house (37). Otter's sister, Mink, took a regular bath (30). She made a
hole near the shore just large enough to sit in; the water flowed into it.
Then she put hot stones in to heat it and was just about to go in when
she was shot. According to informants it was customary for every one
to take baths like this. The Coeur d'Alene say the Nez Perce who are
considered "very dirty" still bathe this way. While a Nez Perce Indian
is in the bath he puts a long feather down his throat to induce vomiting.
This is to clean out the heart.1
Teit describes the Coeur d'Alene sweathouse as small, domelike and
typical of the Plateau area (ARBAE 45:62). A description in Coeur
d'Alene style makes the picture of the sweathouse very vivid. The mother
of the kidnapped boy hid herself near the sweathouse where Meadow-
lark had told her the son would sweat. "She saw her son, who was now
a man, make a fire. It got redhot. He put rocks in it. Then he went in
feet first" (24). The fire was made in a hole at the side of the sweat-
house. A long time ago the people used a cave for a sweathouse but one
time a number of them in it were scalded to death. Since then they have
used the one made of a bent willow frame covered with bark, mats
or skins.
A few cures are vaguely mentioned. Muskrat's grandmother sprinkled
his head with water and bound it up after it had been bruised and
flattened by Otter. She also pretended to be curing it the same way
when Otter arrived at her home to avenge his sister's death (30).
Coyote chewed willow and stuffed it in the hole in his leg (6). He was
given fat as a cure for blindness (7). With the exception of the first
there is no reason to believe that these medicines were actually used.
1The Coeur d'Alene believe the heart (stomach) is the seat of thought and
right-doing.
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 49
Much of a tribe's ethical code is embodied in its myths, but it is rarely
practicable to interpret ethical or moral manifestations from the myths
alone, for we are far too likely to project our own evaluations into
those of another society. I do not know, for instance, why Lynx (9a, b)
should have been so severely punished as he was. We should say off-
hand that he was punished because he was the father of the chief's
illegitimate grandchild. But when we know that the stigma attaching to
illegitimacy is felt less keenly by the Indians than by us, it is necessary
to reinterpret this incident. My guess is that the episode, being a
European one, was made over into a Coeur d'Alene story with little
regard for the original theme. The motivation here is desertion, there
must be some reason for it, so the blame is at first put on Lynx. The
punishment is then stylistic rather than moralistic as is evidenced by the
poetic justice meted out at the end of the tale.
Another example illustrates the reverse case. The chief's daughters
stole dentalia, treasures he was hoarding for the use of his people.
Again desertion is a motivating force but this time it is induced by a
strong moral obligation. The chief, much as it grieves him, must exact
of his own daughters that punishment which he would decree for any
of his tribesmen had they erred in the same way. His obligation to his
fellows far outweighs his own feelings in the matter. "My own children
have stolen the bones. That is what grieves me so. It wasn't your chil-
dren but mine" (24).
Two practices in our own society practically disqualify us from
understanding the chief's attitude and solution of his problem, our
emphasis on material gain and the tendency of parents to defend their
children even when they commit crime. A modern American in the posi-
tion of this mythological chief would be much more likely, I think, to
transform more bones into dentalia to pay for covering up his daugh-
ters' crime.
These examples serve to point out how cautious one must be in
evaluating such moral ideals. There are however numerous cases where
a detailed knowledge of the culture and people together with the evidence
of the myths shed much light on their ideals and practices.
One of the most universal traits of man is his inconsistency. The Coeur
d'Alene are no exception. They are not only cruel but they are proud of
it and, on the other hand they are compassionate. There is marked scorn
for certain types of behavior exemplified by Coyote — his greediness,
trickery, cruelty, lack of originality. Treason is condemned. The traitor
Coyote who abetted the man-eating Grizzly (6) and the Meadowlark
who took up with the Wolves ( 10) are held in the greatest contempt. In
this connection I might add that many of the Coeur d'Alene regard their
50 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
interpreters and policemen as stool pigeons. Their attitude is in many
cases unfair for, if the interpreter has the welfare of his tribesmen at
heart, he conscientiously translates their thought. However since almost
all decisions are against the Indian, his tribesmen conclude, though in
some cases unfairly, that the fault lies at the door of the officials, so
they are considered "traitor coyotes."
The episode of the "Deformed Transformed" has in most cases a
moralistic element which might be formulated thus : The old or ugly
may have great power. They may choose sometime to exert that power
and when they do, woe to the one who has offended them (11). It is
impossible to judge whether this idea, an intrinsic part of the plot, has
been adopted along with it or whether it is an old attitude. It is quite
likely that the latter is the case so that no alteration was necessary when
the plot was adopted. Certainly it fits in well with practice. Old, decrepit
or abnormal people may be teased occasionally but they are not mis-
treated as were the dogs of tale 11. They may be neglected by the
younger members of the tribe but a negligent grandson is shamed or
reprimanded by his elders. A boy may leave his helpless grandmother
for several days at a time or longer but he does not refuse to help her
when he is at home, nor does a "decent" Coeur d'Alene intentionally
ignore distress in his immediate surroundings. Neglect of the old and
helpless is naturally more prevalent in these days when the attention of
the young is so easily diverted and when all tribal control has broken
down, but it is never condoned.
The teachings imply that laziness is almost a crime. Girls past ten
who leave the village to play with the smaller children (31) or to play
in the wood (24) are punished by desertion. At first glance it seemed
to me quite commendable that the girl of tale 31 took care of the little
children and kept them out of the way of the villagers. The Coeur
d'Alene do not see this point but feel only that the girl failed in not
taking on her share of work. The Dentalium Girls added to shirking
responsibility the offenses of deceit and lying (24). History records
the feeling against deceit and lying in the musings of the Boy of My
Story (42), "When my father calls I won't go (to the one-night camp).
If I do I'll only pretend. I will really go to my father's brother because
he lives near where my father told me to go. Yet if my father finds out
I have deceived him he will kill me. But then if I crouch nearby I'll
become a stone, for my father says children who are stubborn and dis-
obedient turn into stones."
The above quotation says much about the respect children had for
their elders and there is also a nice balance in the feeling that parents
should not be unreasonable with their children. When the boy refused to
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 51
go his father was disappointed and disgruntled and put him down as
disobedient. He felt perhaps that he wanted him out of his sight and
sent him for water. The boy went at once, whereupon the grandfather
pointed out to the father that the boy was not habitually disobedient
nor did he refuse to go for water, but was even willing. Perhaps he had
a good reason to delay his one-night vigil. Another angle is shown a
little later in the narrative when the father asks the boy why he did not
give the reason for his refusal to obey and he answers, "You would
not have believed me."
Parents should be strict with their children in order to make them
"decent" people but, as soon as they become unreasonable, sympathy
is immediately transferred to the children. Another example of this
attitude is that of the boy who took a piece of the good meat without
his parents' permission. The Coeur d'Alene do not approve of "thinking
more of food than of your children" (46).
Opposed to the attitude of obedience are examples of disrespect with
even a threat of violence. Child of the Root gained his point by threaten-
ing to kill his grandmother and came temporarily to grief (1) ;
Catbird upon every occasion disregarded his grandmother's advice and
won his point but, when he failed to heed his grandfather, he got into
serious trouble (22; cp. 27). In all of these cases the children had super-
natural power, while the parents disobeyed with impunity were only ordi-
nary people. As soon as the elders secured greater control over the
abnormal the children failed. Here there is rather a reflection of the
attitude toward supernatural influence than toward filial piety. Catbird's
grandmother was a symbol of reaction who considered everything in
the least unusual impossible of accomplishment. This may well go into
the category of parental unreasonableness.
Ordinary disobedience to those in authority had its penalty as is shown
by those who disobeyed orders (8, 9). The high ideal of chieftainship
is exemplified by the father of the Dentalia Girls (24), the father-in-
law of Lynx (9a, b), and Chief Waxane' (41). A chief felt obliged to
submerge his own individuality and emotions in the good of his
villagers.
Conservation was a policy carefully practiced for the good of the
community in myth if not in actual life. The most important hunting
rule was, "Take one just big enough, not too large or too small. Then
use it all" (1). And of deer, "Never shoot more than two apiece"
(13,23).
Much stress is laid upon the dispensation of food. A stingy person
was despised. It was proper to have enough food for the guests to eat
to repletion and to take some home, perhaps enough for their families
52 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
(8, 9). Chiefs were expected to share food with the whole village. A bad
breach of morals and manners was Woodtick's. When Coyote had come
to her house, hungry as usual, she set places for two but, since she did
not say, "Come eat," he sat and watched her eat and clear the things
away. She showed her willingness to share the food — a moral obligation
— but she did not add the verbal invitation — a matter of etiquette. The
fact that it was observed by Coyote who more commonly disregards all
forms of decency makes Woodtick's lapse the more pointed (16).
Reciprocity is strongly emphasized. It crops up most often with regard
to food. Magpie and Rabbit were rewarded with plenty for themselves
and their families because they brought their blankets to Lynx's baby
(9a) or, because they stamped lightly on Lynx (9b). Coyote may be
expected to return evil for good, ingratitude for help, but there are
occasions when even he is helpful. He fed Little Beaver through his
training period, no light task, and Little Beaver in turn avenged the
murder of Coyote's children (5). Rabbit and Jack Rabbit lived in a
state of mutual friendship, each was so concerned about the other that he
constantly had new ideas of helpfulness, even if they proved superfluous
(35).
Just as the Coeur d'Alene take pride in certain types of cruelty so
they admire bravery. Clean Face came down in history as a hero, for
single-handed he defended himself against the enemy (42). The intrepid-
ity of Reserved and Quiet is extolled (10). Reticent was afraid but
Quiet kept his head and saved the situation. There is a tinge of scorn
in the remarks about Reticent. Courage was not a characteristic of men
alone. In describing the dauntlessness of women frequently exposed to
danger narratives express also great admiration for their cleverness in
solving problems. A woman, seeing a chance to escape from her captor
when his saddle cinch becomes loose, takes it (44). Much pleasure is
taken in the account of the two old women who while camping saved
themselves from the enemy by throwing a pot of boiling mush into
his face (43). A number of elements in this narrative make for enjoy-
ment, the cleverness of the ruse, the fearlessness of the women in
carrying it out, the humor of the situation — the enemy surprised and
spitting hot mush and, not the least, I suspect, the suffering.
Since Coyote is the chief protagonist of the tales it is not to be expected
that modesty would be outstanding for he was never modest — if upon
occasion he was, it was a matter for suspicion. Nevertheless modesty
was an ideal. A girl would look up when a stranger entered, then down
at her work at once. Thus Woodtick behaved when Coyote entered her
house (16). This might be a misinterpretation in that Woodtick did not
notice Coyote because she was offended. She was however always
Cultural Reflections in Coeur d'Alene Mythology 53
intimidated by the fact that she had no neck. Bullfrog is the most modest
character. She is ugly. She was reminded daily lest she forget it. She
accepted her position as the ugly one and, instead of becoming arrogant
and aggressive, effaced herself to the extent of offering herself as a
sacrifice to the beautiful and young (31). Examples of exaggerated
modesty are Lynx (9a, b), Crane (8) and, above all, Chief Child of
the Root (1). In these characters are blended bravery, power and suc-
cess with moderation, humility and generosity, a combination greatly
esteemed.
A study of the Coeur d'Alene linguistic categories, some of which
have been elsewhere discussed (American Speech 18 [1943] : 96-102;
Handbook of American Indian Languages Vol. 3) gives further insight
into psychological notions. A verb-stem neatly sums up an ideal con-
stantly held in mind. Children should be brought up to be "decent." All
of the qualities previously mentioned as laudable should be encouraged.
Coercion may even be used. The moral code which posits the type of
behavior for "my folk" and "alien folk" is thoroughly understood and
insofar as possible followed. The individuals who get away from their
training for some time become "indecent, not like a person, untrained,
unrefined, uncivilized." Then they are not "real people" and are looked
down upon just as we scorn those who are dirty or unsanitary. Thus
myth relates and explains some of the Coeur d'Alene ideals of superiority
and inferiority which are chiefly a matter of cultivation.
The available body of Coeur d'Alene mythology, though small, serves
to acquaint us with thoroughly realized literary devices and with cul-
tural values of a kind not ordinarily ascertained by the usual ethnological
techniques. Although one must always consider myth clues suggestive
rather than conclusive there is ample evidence that they define attitudes
toward the culture and ideals which delineate the more subtle and deeply
rooted ethics of human behavior.
CHAPTER IV
Diffusion and Mythological Processes
Just as this small body of texts illustrates the possibility of determin-
ing literary style and contributes illuminating features of culture, espe-
cially of psychological understanding, so the distribution of whole tales,
episodes and elements illustrates myth processes. Miss Froelich had all
of these things in mind when she made her comparison which she did
not restrict to plot and catchword titles alone. A perusal of her com-
parisons brings out quite clearly whether we have the same story or
whether only episodes or even psychological themes are repeated. She
has also been aware of stylistic problems and has included insofar as
possible suggestive remarks on these subjects.
It is possible therefore to determine quite readily the distribution and
distinction of certain plots or episodes as well as to see the relationship
of mythical notions and historical happenings. Myths which may, with
only few qualifications, be considered "typically northwestern" are:
Chief Child of the Root (1) ; Origin of Indian Tribes through trans-
formation of the parts of a gobbling monster (2) ; Coyote Steals his
Daughter-in-law (4) ; Story of Lynx (9) ; War between Land and
Water People, a tale which gives some insight into Plateau ideas of
water spirits or monsters (10) ; Catbird (22) ; parts of the myth of
Water Monster Woman, another related to under-water spirits (27) ;
Little Mosquito (28) ; and possibly, Coyote Marries the Sister of
Geese (13).
Having a much wider distribution, in this study only sketchily indi-
cated, are the themes: Eye Juggling (7) ; Bungling Host (14) ; Calling
the Deer (16) ; Rolling Rock (Skull) (19) ; Snaring the Wind (21) ;
Substitute Bridegroom (mate) (23) ; Contest between Cold and Heat
(34) ; Dog Goes for (procures) Fire (36) ; and Mock Plea (37).
The Coeur d'Alene use of these themes is sometimes distinguished by
the combination of the themes, at others by the interpolation of a char-
acteristic episode, introduction or motivation. The Dog Husband theme
which has a wide distribution is uniquely introduced by the special
treatment of the Deformed Transformed theme and the jealousy of the
sister. The good-humored playfulness of the Dogs, the behavior of the
human girl child to her dog brother, the emphasis on loneliness as an
excuse for abuse and the mother's intervention (11) also take the tale
54
Diffusion and Mythological Processes 55
out of the class of the type Dog Husband myth. The myth of Coyote
disobeying the Geese or other birds with great flying power has a rela-
tively wide distribution but the introduction in which Pine Squirrel pro-
vides him with teeth is somewhat unusual (13).
The myth of the Girls Who Stole Dentalia from their father, the
chief, is fashioned upon the pattern of the Lynx story, disgrace and
desertion by the tribe and similar motivations are found in comparable
tales. The kidnapping of the Coeur d'Alene tale which is carefully de-
veloped sets it off from the others and makes it a gripping plot well sus-
tained until the very end when it falls flat (24).
The following are distinctive of the Coeur d'Alene : Little Beaver (5)
which has only one parallel, among the Okanagan; Coyote Hunts with
Crane, whose introduction which might well be a separate tale is unique,
but which ends with the Salmon Release, a theme of wide distribution
(8) ; Coyote and Fox Gamble with the Fish (12) ; Coyote and Badger
(15) which has only one analogue (among the Columbia River Indians) ;
Calling One's Kind (17) ; Coyote Kills Cricket with Elk Fat (Mistaken
Kindness) (18) ; Cricket Rides Coyote (20) ; Thunder (25) ; features
of Waterbird Contests for Woman which distinguish the treatment of
the more usual Gift Test theme (26) ; Grizzly and his Brothers-in-law
(29) ; Muskrat Trespasses (has two comparable analogues [Shuswap
and Coast Salish] but the details are not very close) (30) ; Toad Saves
Children (31); Elk and Snowshoes (33); Rabbit and Jack Rabbit
(with one almost identical parallel among the Nez Perce) (35) ; and
parts of Turtle's War Party (37), said to be historical.
It is quite possible that some parallels may be found for some of
these or parts of them in Plains mythology to the east and south, but it
seems reasonably safe to consider these as Coeur d'Alene contributions,
if not entirely, at least in the distinctive modes of treatment.
In most comparative studies more attention is given to myths than to
tales and historical narratives. This is of course justifiable since they
are proportionately much more numerous. In considering such tales
from this collection several illuminating points emerge: 1. There is a
gradual transition between pure myth and history. 2. Themes which
were either derived from actual happenings become myths or the re-
verse. 3. Mythical incidents may be identified with known human be-
ings so thoroughly that they cease to be mythical. Turtle's War Party
(37) is an example which possibly illustrates any of these possibilities.
The characters have mythical names and the Mock Plea incident is well
known and widespread, but the explanation that a Nez Perce chief was
actually killed in as mysterious a manner as the tale relates suggests
56 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
some authenticity. It is also possible that the tale is symbolical or alle-
gorical in the same sense as the myth of Little Beaver.
Dorothy's remarks and beliefs about the two-headed snakes (38)
show the impossibility of thoroughly disentangling actuality and myth.
In every Indian tribe with which I have worked there is a conviction that
two-headed snakes actually existed or even exist now. I always ask if
the informant has seen one and never have I found the evidence closer
than once removed. Dorothy's father saw these snakes, the most elaborate
I have ever heard described. In other cases it was an uncle or a cousin,
the informant having arrived just too late to have seen them himself.
The narrative of The Dwarf (39) was told me after I asked if there
was any such thing as a dwarf, since none of the tales included any
such references. It was told as an actual happening, all proof being in-
herent in the tale. Tales 41, 44, 46 and 47 may appear quite "obviously"
true if the comparison did not show that 41, 46 and 47 were quite inti-
mately connected with mythical elements, the parallels of which point
to the Northwest Coast. As the Coeur d'Alene treat them they are very
convincing, since they contain nothing mystical or imaginative, but the
other comparable tales seem more mythical than real. One reason for
this of course is the fact that Indians describe and motivate their char-
acters in a realistic way, connecting them and their behavior so closely
with the supernatural and mystical that one often forgets that the real
and the imagined are not the same. It is reasonable to assume that such
elements originated in historical occurrences but there is at present no
way to prove that they were not lifted from myth and made real.
CHAPTER V
The Myths and Tales
a. 1. chief child of the root (transformer)
Child of the Root's grandmother reveals to him his origin
Child of the Root leaves home
Chief Child of the Root:
Transforms Pestle Boy into pestle
Instructs Foolhen to eat moss raw instead of falling into fire to cook it
Kills and revives Fisher to overcome his foolishness
Burns awls, combs, bladders and lassos to make them useful to man
Transforms nails and bill of Kingfisher and Fishhawk to enable them to catch
fish, enjoins them to eat fish raw
Instructs Splinter Leg to enable him to make spearhead of elkhorn instead of
his own leg bone
Toad causes flood so that Chief Child of the Root will visit her
Toad jumps on Chief's forehead
People reject Coyote and Robin as sun and moon
People accept Chief Child of the Root as sun, Helldiver's child as moon
An old woman lived with her daughter who had a baby. Every day the
daughter went out to gather the root of the plant called sp'a'xwantc
(probably hogfennel). Every day she came back with a great many of
the roots. She baked them and the family ate them. The boy grew. The
mother always went out alone to gather roots, leaving the boy with his
grandmother. One day when he was quite large he asked, "Where is
my father?" "You are pitiable. You have no father." "Why have I
no father?" he asked. "He has been dead a long time." "What was his
name?" "He had none."
Then the boy took a stick and threatened, "If you don't tell me who
my father was I will kill you." "You are Child of the Root," confessed
the grandmother.
The boy was sad. He lay down and covered himself with his blanket.
All day he lay like that. In the evening when his mother came back and
saw him lying as he was she thought, "I suppose his grandmother has
been telling him tales." She said nothing but made signs that she was
going to club her mother. After she had cooked the roots, she said,
"Come, we are going to eat !" The boy paid no attention. She and her
mother ate but the boy would not join them. The next day the same
thing was repeated. He refused to eat. The mother went out to gather
57
58 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
more roots. After she was gone the boy got up and said to his grand-
mother, "I am leaving you for good."
He went out. He went to the edge of the water and sat down. He sang,
"ahoiye xiyd, Chief Child of the Root xeya, xeya." He washed his face,
his head and his entire body. He reached into the water and took out the
throat of a monster fish. He made a canoe of it, got into it and rowed
away singing his song. He heard someone who said, "Chief Child of
the Root, give me a ride. We'll see the whole world even to where the
river enters the sea." "All right, I'll give you a ride."
Then the passenger, who was Pestle Boy, jumped up and down in
the boat. "You might break my canoe. Here I'll fix a paddle for you to
sit on." He fixed it but Pestle Boy continued to jump up and down until
Child of the Root dumped him into the water. "You will no longer eat
people. They will use you for a pestle," he decreed.
The Chief went on singing. Suddenly he saw a tree burning. Someone
fell off it into the fire. He thought, "That person will die." He hurried
ashore and looked. He found Foolhen feeling her eyebrows. They were
all red and blistered from the fire. Chief Child of the Root said to her,
"What's the matter?" "Hu uh-um, Chief . . ." (She did not say "Chief
Child of the Root," but only "Chief."1) "I was gathering black moss."
He said, "Don't do that any more. You might die. If you get hungry for
it again, fly up to a tree and eat it raw right off the tree. Eat it all up,
as much as you want. Don't have a house anymore and don't try to
cook it!" "Thank you, Chief !"
Before this she had gathered the moss and put it under her wing.
Then she set the tree afire and cooked the moss by falling into the fire
herself.
He went off again. Suddenly a rabbit jumped into the water. Chief
Child of the Root clubbed it and put it into his canoe. He went on. He
heard, "Ulu'lu'lu," the sound of tramping. He saw Fisher. "Chief Child
of the Root, give me my game," he demanded. "No, I didn't see it!"
Fisher jumped into the water. "If you don't show me where it is I'll
slap you with my tail." "Go ahead, slap me with your tail!" Fisher
jumped about in the water and swam until he got close to the chief.
Then he turned around and slapped the water with his tail. He got the
chief all wet. The chief hit him. He died. He put him into the canoe
with the rabbit and paddled on.
The chief came to a place where there were many children. He went
ashore. When the children saw him they ran into the house. Their mother
asked, "What is the matter?" They did not answer. Chief Child of the
1 Those who were kind called the hero "Chief" and he helped them, those who
called him "Chief Child of the Root" insulted him and were overcome.
The Myths and Tales 59
Root came in. The mother looked at him and said, "Hum, hum, Chief,
you honor our humble home." He sat down. "We are pitiable," she
added. "We have nothing to offer you to eat." "No, I am not hungry,"
he said. Soon she told the children to look for their father. They looked
for him but soon came back and reported, "Our father is gone." "I
guess he is hunting. He'll be back. Maybe he has killed something. Then
we can eat."
The chief looked around. He saw a lot of rabbit skins. He thought,
"They must like rabbits." He told the children to get the one from his
canoe. They went to the canoe and saw their father lying dead in it.
They cried, "It's our father lying dead there in the canoe !" The mother
said, "I suppose he was doing something foolish again." When the chief
found it was their father he had killed, he said, "Go get him. He will
come back to life again." The children brought him up and laid him
down. The chief stepped over him. Fisher got up. "Oh Chief, you find
us humble," these were the first words he uttered.
The chief went on. He saw a house with smoke coming out. He
thought, "That's where I'll eat." He went ashore. There was a good fire
burning in the house but the people seemed to be gone. He saw little
awls hanging all over the walls. In the middle was a large one, nicely
beaded. He went over and took it down. As he was going out with it
all the awls cried out, "He is taking our chief," and came down from
the wall and pierced him all over his body. "Don't do that ! I guess it
must be your chief I took." He hung up the ornamented awl and went
out. He set the house afire. As he went off he heard the awls crying,
"Yar, yar, yar!" He said, "Don't be man-eaters anymore. You'll be
used for making moccasins."
He went on. Farther on he saw something which looked like a house.
He went in. No one was at home but the fire. He saw combs hanging
all over the walls. A large one decorated with beads was in the center.
He thought, "I'll comb myself with that nice one." As he went out with
it the others cried out, "Our chief is being taken away," and they all
came at him and combed him. "Oh ! It's your chief ? I'll hang him back
again." He hung it on the wall, went out and set fire to the house. As
he went on he heard them shrieking (like scared chickens). "Don't be
man-eaters ! You'll be used to comb hair," he commanded.
He went on and saw another house. Inside there was a fire and the
walls were hung with bladders. In the middle of a wall was a fine large
one. "I'll take that for my own use," he thought, "I'll keep my kinnikin-
nick in it or I can use it for my powder." He took it, but just as he went
out he heard crying, "He took our chief !" He felt them all bumping him
and some blowing him in the face. "Stop that ! It's your chief. I'll put
60 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
him back," and he hung it up again. Then he went out, struck a light
and burned the house. He heard bursting of many tight skins as he went
on. "No more will you be man-eaters. Hereafter you'll be used for stor-
ing tobacco."
At another house the walls were hung with lassos with a large fine
one in the center. He had no more than taken it down when the rest all
cried out, "It's our chief !" They came down and lassoed him and he
put it back. He destroyed the house with fire saying, "No more will you
be man-killers. You'll have to make your living. When people want
food they will use you to trap their game."
The Chief went on. He saw Kingfisher sitting on a tree. As he was
looking Kingfisher dived. Soon he came up holding his hair in front with
both hands. He ran into his house and soon came back with a bucket.
He filled it, ran back and built a fire. Child of the Root thought, "I
better look into this."
He sneaked up and peeped in. He saw Kingfisher had hold of his
hair and was washing it in the bucket. He was wiping his hands on his
hair because the fish smell was all that there was left of his catch and
he was making soup of it. The Chief went back to his boat and returned
as if he had seen nothing. "You honor a humble home, Chief. I am too
poor to be decent." The bucket was boiling. In it was what Kingfisher
had washed from his hair. "I am poor, I have no food." "I am not
hungry." "If I had something to eat you could eat with me." The kettle
boiled, it got white on top. Kingfisher set it down and said, "Stay and
have a drink of soup." The Chief took a cupful and drank. He had
never tasted such good soup. He drank it all.
"You should have had something to eat," said Kingfisher. "I guess
you saw me when I dived for a fish. I got hold of him but he slipped
away because my nails are too short. Why is it they are so close to
the flesh?"
The Chief took Kingfisher's hands, put something like a cat's claws
on them and they became long. "You can do anything you want with
them now." Then he opened the bird's mouth, took a knife and cut his
bill in several places so it was like a file. Then he said, "Go try it. Get
a fish."
Kingfisher went out to his tree and sat. "Tsalalala," he dived. He got
his fish, bit it and held it fast. He took it back to the house. "Thank you,
Chief," he said. He got a bucketful of water and cooked the fish. He was
very grateful. Then the Chief said, "Now I must go." "No stay and eat."
"I drank some soup. You eat what you have. Eat it all. Then fly.
Don't live in a house. Go sit on a willow and watch the water. Don't
take the big fish or the small ones, but the ones that are just big enough
The Myths and Tales 61
for a meal. Don't cook your food but eat it raw." "Thank you, Chief,
thank you."
The chief went on. He saw someone jump into the water and come up
with clasped hands. This person also ran into the house, brought out a
bucket, filled it and went in to make a fire. The Chief spied on him and
saw him wringing the ends of his fingers in the pail. He withdrew and
came in openly.
"Oh Chief, you find me humble, I am poor." When the kettle boiled
Fishhawk gave the Chief some soup. It was very good. Then he said,
"If it weren't for my fingernails I would have plenty to eat. I guess
you saw how I tried to catch a fish." "Let me see your hand." The Chief
treated the nails as he had Kingfisher's and they became long. Fishhawk
tried them and came gleefully back with a stickful of fish. "Thank you,
Chief. Stay and eat with me," he invited. "No ! I have eaten. You eat
it by yourself. Then fly. Don't have a house. Don't cook. Eat your food
raw. Take only one fish and eat it all." "Thank you, Chief."
The Chief paddled on to where the brook ran into a river. There stood
a man aiming a spear. He saw that one of the man's legs was extremely
thin and wondered why it was. He thought, "I ought to see it right." He
jumped out of his canoe and turned himself into a salmon. He swam
up to Splinter Leg. When he speared him he ran off so the spearhead
broke the line. Splinter Leg cried "Oh ! It hurts after all my suffering."
The Chief got into his canoe and speared a salmon with the same
spearhead. Then he went back. Splinter Leg was gone. He went to his
house and peeped in. He was cutting another spearhead out of his own
legbone and crying, "anininin ha ha ha." The Chief drew back, then
walked in. Splinter Leg covered his leg with his blanket, "Weak, poor,
and pitiful you find me, Chief. I have nothing to eat." "I am not
hungry." "I would have something to eat for just as you came in sight
I speared a salmon, but my line broke and carried off my spearhead."
"I saw a fine big salmon lie in the water with a spearhead in it. That
must have been yours. Go get it from my canoe."
As Splinter Leg got up he quickly drew his blanket around his leg.
He brought the salmon back, cooked it and served it. They ate. The
Chief kept watching the other's leg, but Splinter Leg took care not
to expose it.
"Let's play a hoop and stick game, proposed the Chief. "No, I don't
know how." "All right." "Oh well." "What will we bet?" "Your
blanket." They played. Child of the Root won. "Now your shirt." Again
he won. "Come now give me your blanket."
The Chief hit Splinter Leg with a stick. His leg broke. The Chief took
the blanket. "You've made me more pitiable, Chief." "Let me see your
62 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
leg." He looked at it. "Why did you do that?" "Because of my spear-
head. I had to carve it of bone." He did nothing but cry, "Now you've
made me much worse." "I only did it because I mean to fix it."
He saw that the one leg was as thin as could be, the other was normal.
He rubbed the leg and smoothed it and it became as good as new. Then
he took the blanket and handed it to its owner, "Here is your blanket."
"Go ahead, take it," and Splinter Leg was going to take off his shirt.
"No, keep them." "Thank you, thank you!" The Chief went out. He
came in with something in his hand. It was elk antler. "After this make
your spearhead of this. Don't cut yourself for it." "Thank you, thank
you !"
Again he paddled away. After going a long way he saw many people.
They saw him too. "He is coming, Chief Child of the Root," they cried.
Two of them came to meet him. They carried him in by the arms.
The chief of the people said, "I have two daughters, they are yours."
It was so crowded that Toad was pushed way back and could see
nothing. This always happened to Toad because she was so ugly. "I
must see him too," said Toad stretching as high as she could. "What's
the use of your seeing him, an ugly thing like you?" "It's true I sup-
pose," agreed Toad ruefully.
She then went out for water. She sprinkled water from the sky.
She went into her house and sat down patiently waiting. It rained, it
poured. Everybody went home. It was so wet in the houses no one could
lie down. Chief Child of the Root tipped his canoe over to lie under it.
Soon it was wet there too. He got up. He saw a light far off. He went
in the direction of the light. It was in Toad's house. She had a nice fire
and everything was dry and comfortable.
"You are dry, my grandmother. Why are you not wet?" "Ha ha ha,"
she laughed, "now I see you close even if I am ugly." "You are dry, my
grandmother." "I'm not your mother's mother." "What are you then?
My father's mother?" "No." "Are you my younger sister?" "No."
"Are you my daughter?" "No."
He got up. He looked back as he was going out. One parting question,
"Are you my wife ? What are you to me ?"
Toad jumped up and landed above the Chief's nose right between his
eyes. He tried to pull her off but the skin stretched. He said to the
people, "Come, get this toad off me." They came to help him. They
tried to cut off the toad with a knife, but to no avail.
Coyote cried. "All right, let's talk this over."
They came together for a council. Coyote addressed the meeting,
"We ought to have a sun. At night we ought to have a moon. I'll be the
moon myself."
The Myths and Tales 63
Robin said, "I'll be the sun."
At night whenever anyone did anything Coyote announced the act
to all the people. In the daytime the sun came up. It was so hot the
people did nothing but swim. The Chief said, '"It is too hot. It isn't right
to do nothing but swim. And Coyote is too utterly no good. He spies on
everything we do."
They pulled Coyote down and threw him away. Robin was too hot
so she suffered the same fate.
Then said Chief Child of the Root, "I will be the moon. I'll go far
off so you can't see the toad on my face very well."
Helldiver's child who has only one eye said, "I'll be a good sun for
you because I can't see so plain. I will not be too light or hot."1 "All
right."
So the road ends.
Stories of the transformer are told by tribes everywhere. In the ter-
ritory covered by this analysis the role is frequently assigned to Moon
or Coyote or the four transformer brothers, less frequently but never-
theless commonly enough for special recognition, to Child of the Root.
In the majority of examples close attention is paid to the transformer's
origin, little is told of his specific work beyond the generalization that
he went about transforming people, and there are vagueness and un-
certainty about his end. Any careful details are almost exclusively re-
stricted to his entrance into this world, after that is settled it is enough
for him to disappear. This is in contrast to the treatment accorded the
Coeur d'Alene Child of the Root, whose work for mankind is clearly
outlined and who, when it is finished, definitely takes his place in the
sky as the moon.
Thompson versions are typical examples of this formal difference :
A girl marries hogfennel root and gives birth to a son; the boy is abused and
taunted on his origin by the other children; his mother acknowledges his origin
to him ; he leaves and trains in the mountains ; he travels about, sometimes in
company with the Qwoqtqwal brothers, transforming bad people; roots grow
wherever he goes; he leaves many springs behind; it is not known what became
of him (MAFLS 6:45; MAM 12:319).
The Transformer learns the identity of his real father from a bird; the root
confirms it; he transforms his mother into a stone for deceiving him and puts an
end to intercourse with roots ; equipped with great power, he sets out on travels
and disappears; he will return with Coyote as chief and judge at the time when
the dead come back (MAFLS 11:15).
1 When the sun is not too bright Helldiver with only one eye can be seen on its
face.
64 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
A girl has connection with a root and gives birth to a son; the boy transforms
a companion into a flat-headed fish for calling him the son of a root ; he throws
his mother into a lake for lying to him about his origin; he leaves and travels
about transforming people ; he disappears ; it is said he went up to heaven (MAFLS
6:95; BAAS 69:564; ARBAE 31 :616).
A Lillooet version adds a few details to this Thompson account, but
they are again largely linked up with the question of the root child's
origin, rather than with his work or end. The boy transforms the father
of the children who taunt him into a catfish; the people who mocked
him into the grizzly bear, wolf, marten, birds and fish ; when he travels
hogf ennel roots twine about his legs ; everything starts burning when he
stops the sun, so he makes it move again (MAM 4:350; ARBAE
31:617).
A fourth Thompson version, as well as a Sanpoil story (JAFL 46:
136), are notable exceptions to this generalizing tendency at the con-
clusion of the myth — though both Thompson and Sanpoil are still suffi-
ciently vague in the body of it — and these two versions as a result be-
come the closest parallels to the Coeur d'Alene myth taken as a whole.
A mother lies to her son three times about his father ; the boy leaves ; hogfennel
plants wrap themselves about his legs ; Bullhead Catfish calls him by his root
name ; he transforms Bullhead into a catfish ; he kills his mother and puts an end
to intercourse with roots ; he travels about doing wonderful things ; four mornings
he wakes up with a wet belly ; an investigation reveals Frog, who wishes to
marry him, has been sleeping with him; a prettier wife is given him; Frog jumps
on his face ; Coyote as moon tells everything he sees ; Child of Hogfennel becomes
moon {Thompson MAM 12:224; ARBAE 31:616).
A woman throws roots under the ashes in the fireplace to obtain a brother for her
first-born, One Eye, who originated from a chip in a cradle; she discards the first
child, a girl, and receives a boy from the roots ; the brothers reach the gathering
of people assembled to change the sun; Toad causes a great rain so that the
brothers will take shelter in her lodge; she jumps on the younger brother's
cheek; One Eye and his younger brother become the sun and moon after Wood-
pecker, Crane and Coyote prove unsatisfactory {Sanpoil JAFL 46:136).
The remaining references to the root child are all of the typical brief
unorientated type with no transforming details ; the child, in fact, need
not be a transformer.
The Shuswap tell of a boy who was said to be the offspring of the hogfennel
root ; he went about with the four transformer brothers ridding the country of evil
beings. Some say the women had hogfennel roots for husbands before Coyote came
and changed things (MAM 4:644, 652).
The Myths and Tales 65
The Tlingit narrate that girls are warned they might have a baby from swal-
lowing the sap of roots, for Root Stump formerly crossed canyons by striking his
roots into the ground. Root Stump's origin is described as follows : all but a woman
and her daughter are carried up to the sky by something which dropped down;
the girl swallows root sap and gives birth to Root Stump; Root Stump pulls the
malicious thing down from the sky by running his roots into the ground; he like-
wise kills a man who entices people into his canoe to kill them (BBAE 39:42, 193;
ARBAE 31:946).
In a Haida myth the one girl left behind when the rest of the people are carried
off by a feather eats roots and gives birth to a tree-spirit who seizes the feather
while his roots hold him in the ground (MAM 14:642; MAM 12:228).
Though each of the above myths on the whole fails to mention the
specific work of the hero, duplications of two of the feats accomplished
by the Coeur d'Alene Chief Child of the Root are to be found in stories
centering about the lives of other transformers, Moon, Coyote and
others.
The service to mankind most frequently accredited to all the trans-
formers alike is the abolition of man-eating awls, combs, etc.
This is a part of Moon's work in a Southern Puget Sound transformer myth.
Crane (Wren; Blue Heron) is obliged to use his head for a hammer, since sticks
and stones attack him when he picks them up ; Moon transforms poles and stones
into inanimate objects (he teaches Wren the use of the wedge and the maul). A
parallel to Child of the Root's kindness towards Kingfisher or Fishhawk is Moon's
act of stretching Crane's bill and legs so he can spear salmon in the water (UWPA
3:77, 81).
In the Upper Chehalis transformer story Moon is attacked by a needle on the
trail ; he sticks a cattail through its eye and decrees it shall be used for sewing ;
when another thing tries to run over him, he decrees it shall be a mat-smoother
(MAFLS 27:164).
In a Thompson myth Coyote is attacked by a comb, an awl, fine stones (for
smoothing arrows) and a stone hammer, each of which he attempts to pick up in an
underground lodge; he runs away and declares each shall henceforth be a tool for
man's use (MAFLS 11:5).
In the Thompson version of Coyote's theft of his son's wife Coyote's son enters
an underground lodge in the sky country, is attacked by a whole row of baskets
when he tries to pick one up, replaces it, goes outside and curses baskets, making
them henceforth servants of the people; the same thing happens to mats, awls,
combs, and birchbark vessels (MAFLS 6:22; MAM 12:205).
In Shuswap stories of the Coyote cycle Coyote makes no decree with regard to
the future role of the objects, but it may be that such action against them is im-
plied : Coyote hears voices in a house, enters and hurls to the ground a hair and a
comb, which are doing the talking (IS 8).
66 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Coyote seizes one of a row of snowshoes which stand on end around the walls
of a house and dance when his back is turned ; he is attacked by the snowshoes and
runs away (MAM 4:628).
Among the Takelma Dragonfly, the Transformer, is attacked by a salmon-spear
when he takes some of the provisions he finds in a house ; he breaks the spear and
declares it shall be an inanimate object in the future (UPMAP 2:39; ARBAE
31:703).
The trickster Raven's experiences with the Shadow people are not
episodes in a transformer cycle; they include however references to
such live objects as transformers have been found above to render
inanimate.
When Raven starts to carry slices of halibut and seal out of a house, wedges
throw themselves at him until he drops the meat ; when he attempts the same thing
in a second house where he sees only a design on the wall, appearing as if drawn
with a fingernail, his hair is pulled ; the Shadow people are attacking him ( Tlingit
BBAE 29:134).
Raven eats in the house of the shadows and feathers ; he leaves ; he returns to
take away some of the provisions stored in the house ; the shadows and feathers
beat him and throw him out {Tlingit IS 316, 326).
Another form of Chief Child of the Root's work as a transformer
reappears in part in a number of stories, his transformation of such
individuals as Kingfisher and Fishhawk.
The closest parallel, Moon's efforts in behalf of Crane in Southern
Puget Sound mythology, has already been mentioned.
In a Squamish myth a man rubs his double-pronged spear against fish and thus
collects their slime; the Transformers show him how to spear salmon properly;
he resents their kindness; they inject the two halves of his spear into his legs,
push its point up his nose, stretch his neck and clap; he turns into a crane (BAAS
70:519; ARBAE 31:606).
In Thompson, Lillooet, and Stsee'lis myths there is no transformation as such
by the transformer: a man (sandpiper) rubs a sharpened pole (two sticks; the
frame of a dip-net) against fish, then scrapes off the fish-slime and boils it (with
grass or roots and berries) ; the Transformer shows him how to make and use a
dip-net (a salmon-spear and fish-caches) and how to split, cook, and dry the fish
(MAM 12:318, 349; MAM 4:294; ARBAE 31:605; JAI 34:362; ARBAE
31:605).
A Newettee incident combines a feature of Chief Child of the Root's dealings
with Splinter Leg with an element found in his treatment of Kingfisher and Fish-
hawk; the dominating motive, however, is one of revenge and punishment rather
than of reward : The Transformer swims off as a fish with Crane's harpoon-point ;
The Myths and Tales 67
he appears before Crane wearing it as an ear ornament; Crane recognizes it and
puts splintered bone in the Transformer's food; he shakes the bones out of the
Transformer's throat when the latter promises to return the harpoon-point; the
Transformer presses the points into Crane's nose and transforms him into a crane
(IS 201).
The selection of a moon and a sun is the concern of the people in a
number of myths. The method of procedure and the factors which deter-
mine the choice are practically identical in all the instances ; the varia-
tions which occur rest in the final identity of the characters chosen. As
the Coeur d'Alene assign the moon role to Chief Child of the Root, so
those tribes which have Moon as the transformer hero make him their
choice with his wife (or grandmother) Frog (or Toad) appearing upon
his face. In each of these instances Moon's younger, cross-eyed brother
who has a role in his myth is appropriately enough accepted as the sun.
In the Coeur d'Alene myth there is no character available for this part,
for Child of the Root has no brother and no companions; it is stated
that Helldiver's child offered to be the sun and was accepted. As will be
noted in the list of tribes below, in whose mythology this creation episode
is found, choices for a sun may include: Lynx's son, Coyote's son,
Chicken Hawk, Redshafted Flicker's egg.
Southern Puget Sound. Yellowhammer, Raven, Coyote, Woodpecker, and Hum-
mingbird are all unsatisfactory as the sun ; Moon is too hot ; Moon, with Grand-
mother Toad upon his face, becomes the moon, his younger brother becomes the
sun (UWPA 3:78, 80).
Coast Salish. Moon (the older boy who had been lost) rises as the day moon but
burns everything up; his brother is frightened as the night moon (does not give
enough light) ; thus Moon becomes the moon, his brother, the sun; Moon's wife
(grandmother) Toad (Frog) is with him (both the moon and the sun have their
Frog wives with them to doctor them when they get sick; Moon has on a tight
cap which gives him cross-eyes like his brother). In the Cowlitz tale — the trans-
former runs away ashamed when the people discover that he eats too much; he
becomes the moon; his wife jumps into his eye; his younger brother follows him
and becomes the sun (MAFLS 27:379; 172, 176, 271, 272, 283, 360, 378).
Nez Perce. Coyote calls a council to consider the question of the sun and requests
both of Sun's wives to attend, though Sun does not love the one, Frog; Frog sits
on Sun's eye and cannot be dislodged ; Sun is scolded for giving too much heat and
is instructed to change places with Moon (MAFLS 11:195).
Kutenai. Raven, Chicken Hawk and Coyote are unsatisfactory as the sun; a
woman's older child is chosen to be the sun, the younger child, the moon; Raven
and Coyote (the Transformer, Coyote, and Chicken Hawk) are unsatisfactory as
the sun; the two Lynx children are chosen to be the sun and the moon (Coyote,
angry that he cannot be the sun, tries to shoot it; his bow catches fire and ignites
68 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
the prairie; he escapes burning by lying in the trail) ; Coyote is unsatisfactory as
the sun; Chicken Hawk is found acceptable (BBAE 59:67, 117, 287; ARBAE
31:728; VBGA 23:161; Dyer).
Okanagon. Red-headed Woodpecker, Crane and Coyote are unsatisfactory as the
sun; Coyote's son is chosen (JAI 41:145; ARBAE 31:727).
Shuswap. Many birds and Coyote prove unsatisfactory as the sun: a red bird
meets with approval ; Coyote is unsatisfactory as the sun ; Redshafted Flicker takes
his place; Flicker later lays an egg which is changed into the present sun (IS 5;
MAM 4:738; ARBAE 31:945).
Incidentally in a Wishram myth Coyote tries out for the position of Sun Woman's
slave ; as usual he gossips about everything he sees ; Sun tells him he is too mean
for her to take about any longer (PAES 2:47; ARBAE 31 :945).
Additional Shuswap and Thompson stories, though they do not dis-
cuss the actual selection of a moon, explain the presence of a woman
upon it.
Moon pettishly tells one of his wives who has borne him two children and of
whom he is less fond than the other, to camp on his face ; she is still there (hold-
ing her birchbark buckets and snow-shovel) {Shuswap: MAM 4:653; IS 15).
Moon invites the stars to his house; the Pleiades crowd the house; Moon jok-
ingly tells his sister to sit on his face; she is still there holding her water-buckets
{Thompson MAFLS 6:91; MAM 12:229).
B. COYOTE CYCLE
2. Origin of Indian Tribes (From Parts of Monster)
Grizzly tries to kill Rabbit for his food
Rabbit tricks Grizzly in contests
Rabbit kills Gobbler's wife
Coyote hides Rabbit
Coyote's powers help him defeat Gobbler and his dog
Coyote frees people in Gobbler's stomach
Coyote cuts up Gobbler, throws his parts about and the Indian tribes originate
Rabbit had a house near Grizzly Bear's. Grizzly was always starving
and Rabbit always had to feed him. Besides eating all he wished Grizzly
always wanted to take some food along with him. Then he became so
greedy he thought he would kill Rabbit and get all the food. "Let's play,"
he proposed. Rabbit said, "We are no children to be playing." "Oh,
come on, let's play. Let's go bathing."
The Myths and Tales 69
When they were in the water Grizzly said, "Let's splash. Let me be
first." He took water and threw it at Rabbit, then laughted, "Uh uh
uh!" Rabbit took a big spoon made of elk antler. While Grizzly was
laughing he filled it with water and threw it down Grizzly's throat. He
almost choked. Rabbit ran away into his house. He threw Grizzly's
food out at him and saw him eat it greedily. Grizzly laughed again, "We
are only playing." "I'm going to shoot him in the eye," he added to
himself.
Rabbit took a bladder, blew it up and put it in his eye. Grizzly shot
at him, the bladder burst. Grizzly laughed, "My ! Isn't that fun !" Then
came Rabbit's turn. He shot and put out Grizzly's eye. He growled.
Rabbit ran home. Then he ran into the timber and soon came to the
house where a wicked old woman lived with her daughter and son-in-
law. The husband of the girl was gone. Rabbit killed the girl. He took
a knife and began to skin her. [As he did so he asked the old woman,
"Are my ears getting longer?" "Yes." Then as he cut her down the
back, "Is my fat showing?" "Yes," the old woman was compelled to
answer.
The girl had an understanding with her husband when they first got
married. She had told him, "If one of your arrows breaks when you
are hunting then you will know I am dead." He had told her, "If ever
your digging stick breaks when you are digging camas you will know
I am dead."
Now when the husband was out hunting he was warned of his wife's
disaster by the breaking of his arrow. He hurried home. "Mother-in-
law, what does this mean?" he asked. "Rabbit came in, killed our
daughter, cut her open and went away again."]1
Rabbit had escaped into the timber but the man came after him.
Rabbit made all kinds of tracks in the timber so the man could not
track him easily, but nevertheless he followed. Then Rabbit put cooked
camas down at intervals. This was so the man would be delayed by
picking it up to eat. Finally Rabbit came to the open prairie. Just as he
got a good start forward he ran into Coyote. He said, "You shouldn't
delay me this way. A monster is chasing me."
Coyote took up some jointgrass, pulled the joints apart and hid Rab-
bit in it. When he looked at Rabbit he was shaking with fear. Coyote
blew the jointgrass so it looked as if it was shaking in the wind. Then
he consulted his powers. The first one said, "The monster who is after
you has a dog, the Grizzly Bear, whose name is tcn'aqsi'na. I'll be your
dog and my name will be the same. I'll be very small." The second
1The part in brackets was not given in the text, but was explained by the in-
formant.
70 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
power said, "I'll be a knife at the back of your dog' head." The third
said, "I'll give you the power to gobble everything up."
They saw Gobbler coming with his dog. "Did you see what I am
chasing?" he asked roughly. "What are you chasing?" "A rabbit."
"No." "Here are his tracks." "No, I didn't see him. Maybe he passed
before I came." "Hum, hum," growled Gobbler's dog. "Be quiet,
tcn'aqsi'na!" said Coyote. "Why! We call our pets by the same name!"
said the monster."
Coyote answered, "Ah, ah, my father and his father, then his father
and his father had the same name for their dogs." Then the monster
became angry. He walked toward his pet. He said, "Make your pet stop
growling, we might kill you." Coyote said, "You stop yours." "You
better listen to me. He will kill you." Coyote laughed, "We might kill
you." "Oh no !" Then Coyote proposed, "Let's have our dogs fight."
So they turned the dogs loose and they fought. Coyote's dog was
bitten and stepped on. Coyote laughed. He called, "What is the matter
with you, tcn'aqsi'na? Why don't you put your head under him?" and
laughed again. Again he egged him on. Then the dog crawled under
Grizzly and, with the knife behind his head, ripped his stomach open.
He fell.
The monster mourned for his dog. Coyote said, "It's too bad. I told
you to call off your dog when they started to fight. I saw they were mad."
"Shut up ! I'll gobble you up !" Coyote answered, "Do you mean you
will gobble me up? I'll gobble you up ! Let's see if we can gobble up that
tree. You try first !"
The giant tried, but left about three feet of the stump standing.
Coyote laughed. "I thought you were smart. Now look at me!" He
gobbled. When he was through not a splinter of the tree was left. "Now
look," said Coyote. "That is the way real gobblers gobble. Let's go and
gobble that cliff. You go first."
The ogre gobbled at it but when he had done his best some rocks were
left. Coyote laughed. He gobbled and not a pebble was left. "You are
not like me," he bragged, "/ am the smart one!" "I might gobble you
up," said Gobbler. "All right, try it !"
Before Coyote could look he found himself inside the monster's
stomach. There were lots of people there playing games. Some were
playing the stickgame, others cards, still others were dancing a war
dance. Coyote said to them, "What's the matter with you all? You are
pitiful. Don't you know you are in the belly of a monster. I am going
out of here. Get yourselves ready. Soon I'll be back, then I'll fix it so
you can come out."
The Myths and Tales 71
He tickled the ogre's heart and was spat out. Far away he landed.
Coyote picked up a stick to make a hoop and continued making hoops
as he talked to Gobbler. "Your insides show you are a good gambler.
You are a card player." Coyote had made a hoop the size of the ogre's
mouth and was now fashioning two smaller ones the size of his nostrils.
"You are a good war dancer."
The ogre answered, "Because you are no good, that is the reason I
vomited you up. I eat only good things." Coyote said, "You only think
so. You eat mice. I am the one who eats really good things."
"Just a minute ago I got through eating two nice, neat, good-looking
people." Coyote said, "I was the one who ate those two." "If that's true
vomit them out." "Come," said Coyote. "Sit down there, close your eyes,
I'll close mine and we will see what we can vomit. You do it first !"
The monster vomited two people and Coyote four mice. Coyote threw
the mice in front of Gobbler and put the people on his side. "Hahui!
Let's open our eyes." Coyote laughed. "Those nice-looking ones are the
ones I ate." Gobbler could not believe his eyes. "They are the ones I
ate. I never did eat mice." "Look where they are, on your side." "I'll
gobble you up !" "You're a mouse-eater !" Coyote had the hoops in his
hand. He held them flat. "All right, go on, gobble me up."
Again in a twinkling he was in the monster's stomach. "Hahui!" he
said to the people. "Wait till I run out, then you can get out too."
He ripped open the stomach. It was light again. The people ran out.
He cut off the giant's heart. Then he set the large hoop so it would hold
the mouth open and the smaller ones in the nostrils. Everyone came out.
The ogre died. Coyote ran off.
He went back, to the jointgrass where Rabbit was hiding and took
him out. He was glad to be free. Then Coyote told Rabbit to cut the
giant up. He cut him all up. Coyote took the pieces and threw them
about. He threw a leg and said, "You will become the Blackf oot Indians.
You will be tall." He threw a rib saying, "You will be the Nez Perce.
You will have good heads."1 The paunch became the Gros Ventre, "You
1 Referring to the fact that the Nez Perce have beautiful long hair,
will have big bellies." Then he threw the heart. "You'll be the Coeur
d'Alene. You'll be mean."
He threw all the pieces away. Then he wiped his hands on some grass.
He threw the grass away. "You will be the Spokan. You will be poor,"
he decreed.
That is the end of my road.1
1 Additional explanation not in the text: Each time a piece of Gobbler's body
hit the ground smoke came up and made a dwelling. The Palous Indians were made
of the second stomach.
72 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
A similar myth is found among the Nez Perce, Sahaptin, Wishram,
Wasco, Thompson, Kutenai, Shuswap, Chinook, Kathlamet, Southern
Puget Sound people, Sanpoil and Cowlitz.
The Nez Perce (CUCA 25:26), Sahaptin (MAFLS 11:148-9) and
Wishram (PAES 2:43) myths and a Thompson version (MAM 12:314)
correspond to the second half of the Coeur d'Alene myth : Coyote kills a
swallowing monster, frees the people inside it, carves and distributes it.
Other instances of the dissection and distribution of monsters are
frequent, although there is little agreement as to the ultimate disposition
of the body parts and the sources of origin of the various tribes.
The animals kill, cut up and distribute the water monster which had swallowed
Flicker and Duck {Kutenai BBAE 59:81). Chief Woodpecker kills and, assisted
by the animals and birds, cuts up and distributes Seacow who had hit Big Wood-
pecker's brother and made his head bloody {Kutenai, Dyer). Bluejay scatters the
parts of the water mystery monster he has killed {Shuswap MAM 4:667). The
crying monster is distributed by the men who killed it {Thompson MAFLS 6:79).
Ntci'mka has his boy helper scatter the body parts of the man-eater they have
killed {Thompson MAFLS 6:81; MAM 12:255). In Chinook mythology (BBAE
20:21) two transformers and their dog defeat a monster woman and her dog in
contests, revive the boys she has killed, hurl her down a precipice and instruct the
boys to scatter her body parts in various directions. In the Kathlamet myth (BBAE
26:65) the youngest of five brothers allows himself to be swallowed by an elk
monster, kills it with the help of his dog and his grandmother and cuts it up; the
pieces of elkskin become prairies.
Additional myths which recount the killing of monsters omit the
distribution and tribal origin element.
With the help of his excrement Coyote and his dog defeat Cannibal and his
dog in contests (vomiting and dogfight) ; in exchange for his dog of dung Coyote
receives Cannibal's staff for calling the deer {Thompson MAFLS 6:30, 81). Coyote,
swallowed by a monster, kills it with the help of his two sisters, the Cayuse girls,
pieces of excrement, and the people inside are exhaled {Wasco PAES 2:267).
Xode tricks Mountain Woman in a vomiting contest, is sucked in by her and trans-
forms her into a rock {Southern Puget Sound UWPA 3:120-1). Coyote tricks
man-eating Owl in a vomiting contest; Coyote and Owl turn into cliffs {Shuswap
IS 9). Elsewhere Coyote transforms Cannibal Owl into an owl {Thompson MAM
12:300). In the Sanpoil myth (JAFL 46:160) Coyote's dog kills the monster
Grizzly Bear; Grizzly Bear kills Coyote, Fox revives Coyote, Coyote's faeces be-
come his dog and flint and kill Grizzly. The Cowlitz (MAFLS 27:260) relate the
myth of Xwani and his dog : Xwani takes out his excrement sisters who warn him
of the dangerous being and his dog. Xwani changes his excrement into people and
a dog ; trades dogs ; the dangerous being slips on the excrement people and is killed.
The Myths and Tales 73
3. Coyote Overpowers Sun {Securing Sun Disk)
Coyote's four children and Antelope's four children steal sun disk
Coyote's children killed
Coyote steals disk from Antelope
Antelope recover disk
Coyote seeks revenge
Meadowlark advises Coyote to travel at night
Coyote's powers help him in contest with Sun at a spring
Coyote overcomes Sun
Coyote restores Sun's light
Coyote and Antelope lived together. Each had four children. The
Coyote children had names, the Antelope children had none. Every morn-
ing Coyote's children went into the sweathouse. Antelope's children went
away. In four days they returned. Then Coyote's children went away and
Antelope's children went into the sweathouse to sweat. They did that
for a month. Then they all went far away. They came to a place where
there were many people. At night the oldest Coyote stopped nearest the
people. Then the second, the third, and finally, the youngest took up his
place. That was all of Coyote's sons. Then the oldest Antelope took his
place and the others arranged themselves in order according to age.
Sun, who was chief of the people, had a valuable disk the Antelopes
and Coyote wanted. It lay in the chief's house. Coyote's child went in
and took it. When the people found it was gone they cried out. They gave
chase and just as they were about to kill him he rolled it to his next
younger brother. In this way each Coyote got it and passed it to the next
although he was killed in doing so. The oldest Coyote passed it to the
oldest Antelope. Each Antelope passed it to his brother and all escaped
for they could outrun the Sun's people.
The Antelopes went home and announced1 that the Coyote children
were dead, "You no longer have any children, Coyote !"
Coyote and Antelope had been listening for the return of their chil-
dren. Now they heard the cry of mourning. They went out and listened,
"Oh! You have no children any more, Coyote." Antelope said, "They
said, 'Coyote?' " "No," said Coyote, "They said, 'Antelope!' " As they
were arguing the same cry came again. Each insisted it was announcing
the misfortune of the other.
Finally Antelope said, "My children are not lazy enough to be killed."
Coyote retaliated, "Are they not my children who go to rocky places
and eat nothing but rosehips for four days at a time?"
Then Antelope put a stick in the fire and when it was well burned
1 This they did by hammering on their canoes, then the people came out of their
houses to hear who had died.
74 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
hit Coyote making marks around his eyes. Coyote burned a stick and
just as Antelope ran out hit him with it at the root of his tail and on
his legs.
Coyote left Antelope's house. He cried all the time. Then Antelope
said to his children, "Whenever he stops crying give him the sun's disk.
His children are the ones who really got it."
Coyote kept on crying. He did not even sleep for about four days. By
that time his cry, "awawa, awawa, my children," had become very faint.
Antelope said, "Go and see." Some went. They pulled aside the rush
mat which served as a curtain and saw nothing. The crying continued
weakly. They looked around for Coyote and found that he had left long
before. He had left his spittle crying in the fire.
When the antelope came out looking for Coyote they saw him run-
ning with the precious disk. They followed him to the cliff over which
Spokane Falls play. When Coyote got there he said, "Four times I will
pretend to throw it over the cliff. The fourth time I will really throw it
into the river." Each time he raised it he sang, "The precious disk,
wu ••■•/' but he did not let it go. After three times he said, "Only once
more then I'll let you go. Then you'll stay for good."
Meanwhile the antelopes were coming nearer. Just as he let it go, one
caught it exclaiming, "How can you ever pay for it ?" Coyote answered,
"What did you pay for it when you had it, this valuable thing?" The
Antelope took it.
Coyote kept on crying. He went home. He did not eat or sleep, just
cried for some days. One day at sunset he stopped crying and said,
"u-u-u !" Antelope said, "You smarty of a Coyote !"
Then Coyote sang:
"xiy'd xiy'd wa wd xu xu la
"I ought not to be a woman.
"Why should I soil my eyes with crying.
"Go and sing, my aunties."
"Maybe he didn't die, the one who said that to me. Maybe you are
just like me. Now I am going to avenge my children." Antelope said
again, "That smarty of a Coyote !"
Coyote went. All night he serenaded his aunties, the little mice. Just
about daylight he said to his aunties, "In just a month after I have gone
you will think me dead." As he went out, he said, "Good day, my
aunties," and left. He walked and walked. He thought by walking east
he would get to where the sun was. In broad daylight he walked. The
sun saw him and said, "You sly one! You think you are going to take
revenge and you are walking in plain sight."
The Myths and Tales 75
Each day this happened. One day Coyote saw two nicely smoothed
little sticks in the road. He stepped on them. They broke, "anininin !
You broke my leg. I was going to tell you a story."
Coyote answered, "I have business to attend to now." "What do you
have to worry so about?" "Oh, go on tell me a story. I will fix it for
you."
He put the bones in place and smoothed them. Then said Meadow-
lark (for it was her leg he had broken), "Why do you go around in the
daytime when the sun is out? He can see you walking around. Don't
walk any more in the daytime but only at night. At daylight lie down
in a hole in the ground and sleep. About sunset get up and walk." Coyote
said, "Thank you."
He rewarded meadowlark by putting around her neck a black medal
on a black string which had belonged to bluebird. Now Coyote traveled
only at night. At dawn he lay down until the sun was gone. The sun
wondered, "I wonder where he is. Maybe he is lying down."
Then Coyote saw the spring where the sun paused to drink every day
at noon. He consulted his magic powers."1 "Tell me what to do right
away." They said, "He never passes by that spring without stopping.
Always at noon he stops to drink."
Coyote went over to the spring. He saw two holes where the sun
placed his knees as he bent to drink. His powers told him, "Opposite
those holes dig two for yourself. At dinner time when he comes down he
will stop here. He will descend but will not touch the ground. Don't at-
tack him until he comes down."
One power gave him a small knife like a paring knife. The other gave
him something to shoot with. The third was to hold him back when the
sun pretended he was coming to earth.
The next day the sun rose. He said, "Coyote, whoever seeks revenge
must lie down." Coyote said, "He saw me already, I may as well be
walking," but his powers said, "No he is only pretending. After a
little he will come down closer." Coyote saw something hanging down
from the sun's head. His powers said, "That is his heart. That is what
you must cut off."
Up again went the sun. "Let me get him," said Coyote. "No, he'll
soon come very close," and his power held him back. Once more it came
down, "I am going to shoot at it."
"No, you would only shoot in vain. He would not die. You must cut
off his bangs. Only then will he die." The next time the sun touched
1 1 was not able to find out just what these powers were. There were said to be
four of them, I suspect they were Coyote's penis, testes and dung, or they might
have been only dung. In Thompson mythology Coyote's power is his excrement (cp.
MAFLS 6 :30 ; also BBAE 26 :45, BBAE 20 :92) .
76 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
the ground. He looked around, there was the water. He reached across
the spring and supported himself, then drank. Right there Coyote was
lying near the sun's heart. His power said, "Grab it !" He pulled it, bit
it. One power handed him the little knife and said, "Cut it!" He cut it.
Then Sun fell down and died. It became dark. Then all the Lndians
said, "Now Coyote has murdered someone."
Coyote went off. He went far, far. He stumbled over Sun. He felt
around. "This is the one I killed." Every time he stepped he stumbled
over the body it was so dark. Again he asked his powers what to do.
They said, "Put down that thing you are holding in your hand." He put
it down. It became light, it became light.
Similar myths are found in the mythology of the Shuswap, Thomp-
son, Wishram, Kutenai and Coast Salish:
The Shuswap and Thompson versions correspond closely with the Coeur d'Alene
story up to the point where Coyote escapes from the antelope with the disk, which
is described as a "glittering ball." Here Coyote turns into an elk, uses fragments
of the ball as armor and kills many people, until Meadowlark intervenes ; Coyote
avenged makes his escape (MAM 4:642; MAFLS 6:32; MAM 4:313).
In the Wishram myth Antelope's two sons succeed in stealing the people's shinny
ball, while Coyote's four sons and one daughter are killed; Coyote with the aid of
his two faeces catches the Antelope and transforms them into antelope (PAES
2:67).
In the Kutenai version Young Coyote is captured while stealing the people's hoop,
but his companion, Young Fox, rolls it home safely; Old Coyote and Fox in turn
free Young Coyote. Subsequently Coyote and Young Fox lose the hoop in gambling
with Salmon; Fox and Young Coyote win it back (BBAE 59:143 and cp. this
work, tale 12).
In an Upper Chehalis myth Stehe'n's grandchild escapes with the people's shin-
ing hoop and shares it with his grandfather; the five Fox children are killed
(MAFLS 27:70). In the Skokomish version Stuhe'n's grandson is victorious
(MAFLS 27 :369) ; in the Wynoochee Stahe'n's grandchild wins from Coyote's
four sons (MAFLS 27:345) ; and in the case of the Cowlitz Coyote Boy obtains
the shining hoop although Coyote's five sons are killed ; Coyote takes the hoop up
to the sky as the sun (MAFLS 27:230, 231). The Cowlitz version is the first
instance of the identification of the stolen shining object as the sun, the Coeur
d'Alene interpretation.
A parallel to the Coeur d'Alene episode of Coyote's contest at the
spring with a power of light is found in myths of Sahaptin and Nez
Perce origin which have a different motivation :
Moon's son kills people for his father to eat ; Coyote kills Moon's son while he is
drinking at the spring and places Moon in the sky (MAFLS 11:173-4).
The Myths and Tales 77
4. Coyote Steals his Daughter-in-law
Coyote's son has two wives, Black Swan and Tern; Coyote covets Tern
Coyote with help of powers gets his son into the sky
Coyote marries Tern
Coyote's son encounters spiders
Coyote's son kills father of his Beaver wives, revives him
Coyote's son becomes homesick for Black Swan and his child
Spider Women provide box for his return to earth
Coyote's son finds Black Swan far from camp and hides in her pack
Coyote's son kills all the people except Black Swan and her child
Coyote had a house. He had a son who had two wives. One was Tern,
the other was Black Swan.1 The latter had a baby. Tern had none.
Everyone liked Swan, no one liked Tern. Coyote thought, "I'll be the
one to fall in love with Tern. Black Swan is really black and ugly. I
must find some way to do away with my son, then I can have Tern for
myself."
He went off and consulted his powers. "What can I do so that my
son will die?" "Take him up to the sky," said one power. "I will be
something good to climb up on," said the second. The third said, "On
the tip of that tree I will be an eagle's nest in which there are two desir-
able small eagles." The fourth said, "Keep arching your brows so he
ascends." "All right," said Coyote and went back home. He said to his
son, "I see two eagles have a nest in the top of the pine tree. It would
be nice to climb up for them." He answered, "Yes, I'll go in the morn-
ing." Coyote said, "All right, in the morning we'll go for them."
They went. They saw the young eagles were just about large enough
to fly. The boy climbed up. He looked down and saw his father lying
on his back and raising his eyebrows. "Why are you doing that?" he
asked. "I am afraid you might fall. I don't mean to do it but I can't help
it I am so worried."
He really did it because it made his son rise higher each time. The son
rose higher and higher and finally went right into the sky. Coyote got
up and went back into his son's house. He said to Black Swan, "Go far
away. Your husband left because of you." Thus he sent her away.
He said to his children, "Your older brother has gone up. You will
never see him again." Then he took Tern for his own wife.
The son found the sky just like the earth. He saw an elk and shot it.
He butchered it and dried the meat. At night when he was trying to
sleep he heard people talking. He understood one to say, "You must
have seen that person. You defecate on people so you can eat." The
*The Coeur d'Alene say that long ago black swans were numerous in their
country.
78 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
other answered, "You must have seen an elk. I suppose you would defe-
cate on him so you can eat." The older of the two brothers ate game, the
younger ate people. (They may have killed them by defecating on them.)
Each one of these people had a cane on which was tied a bone of each
individual he had killed. One cane had elk bones, the other had human
bones. Then he heard them fight with canes. One was poking the other
into the ground with a cane. Coyote's son arrived there. The older was
a spiderlike animal with very long legs who said to Coyote's son, "My
younger brother, gave me that elk over there. I will protect you. Go take
everything that is good. He will covet it. When I get there we will fight.
Just as I catch hold you must say, 'Chop my leg off, my daughter's
child.' Take a stick and put it by your leg. Then I will say to you,
'Chop my leg !' Then run around as if it hurt. I will say it again and this
time we will really chop his leg."
So the spider ran and ate the meat. His companion was jealous of
him. Coyote's son went off. He stood under a tree. It was raining hard.
He put his quiver under his blanket to keep it dry. He heard women
laughing, "ha ha ha, Beaver's older sister is going down creek, ha ha ha,
Beaver's younger sister is going up creek."1 He heard "p'atcetcetce,"
the sound of beaver being clubbed with a stick. They said, "Oh ! He is
wet, our husband."
They came straight toward Coyote's son and stood on the opposite
side of the tree. Then they said, "Go ! You are wet. Let's go now."
There were four women beavers and each was carrying two beavers.
Coyote's son went with them. They came to a house and all went in.
The women were beavers and they all ate beaver.
The next day Coyote's son went hunting. He shot a deer and went
on looking for another. He shot the second but when he had butchered
it and returned for the first it was gone. There was nothing but blood
sprinkled over the ground. He came back to the house, "Ah ! He killed
a deer, our husband. Ah ! Ah !"
The beaver woman were glad to have the deer. He said, "I killed two
but when I came back for the first it was gone." They said nothing but
smiled.
The next day he went again. After he had shot the first deer he hid
to watch it. Soon Long Legs came. He could see that Long Legs' body
was small and round. He cut up the deer and ate it. Coyote's son shot
him and he died. He shot a second deer and took it home. The women
were very quiet, it looked as if they had been crying. They would not
cook the deer so he cooked it himself. He took off his moccasins. He
XA common Coeur d'Alene saying which indicates that something important is
about to happen.
The Myths and Tales 79
offered them something to eat. Just one ate with him. The rest turned
their backs. He said, "I killed that long-legged fellow, the one with
the small head."
Then the women burst out crying, "It was our father you killed,"
they said. "Why didn't you tell me? I told you something ate my kill.
You didn't say a word. Why didn't you say, 'It is our father?' Stop
crying now. He will live again."
He put on his moccasins, dressed himself and went out. He found
Long Legs all sprawled out. He stepped over him. Slowly he got up.
"Ha ha, my son-in-law," he said. "When I said something had eaten
my kill your children did not tell me it was you." "Ha, didn't you know
I saved you that time you killed the elk. You were just going to be
eaten by Spider's brother but I saved you. Now I am going. Follow me."
They went hunting. They killed many deer. When they came home
the women were happy again. This time they cooked. "You should have
told me that was your father. I would not have killed him," said Coyote's
son again.
The next day when he went hunting he killed two deer but left one
for his father-in-law. Although he had children with the beaver women
he began to be homesick for Black Swan and her child. He lay down
and covered himself with his blanket. The children came to play in his
lap. "Don't do that," said the women, "there's a hole in his moccasin
near the big toe.1 Your father is homesick for Black Swan."
He got up and went out. He wondered what to do to get back to
Black Swan again. He went far. He came to a house where he heard
someone talking, "Ludidi, ludidi!" He went in. An old woman sat on
each side of the fire. They were feeling around on the floor and arguing,
"Ludidi, it is mine." "Ludidi, no, it started on my side."
They were talking about a stalk of hemp grass which grew under-
ground from the side of one to the other. Coyote's son said, "You are
my father's mothers. Show me how to get back." They remained silent.
He said, "I'll pay you all my clothes." They did not even look at him.
They kept on spinning. He said, "I'll give each of you a sack of meat."
They paid no attention. "I'll give you hemp." Then they said, "You are
our grandson." "I have been trying to talk to you a long time." "You
talk as if we wore clothes. This rope stuff is what interests us." He
said to them, "Is it all in one piece? There is just one measure for each
of you."
They took a box and put him in it. It had a lid. They directed him,
"Four times you will stop before you get to earth. When you get to land
*An unkind expression signifying jealousy because a man is longing for another
woman.
80 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
you will hear grass blowing. Then get out. Every time you stop before
that roll around, then the box will start again. Every time it falls, close
the lid again."
The box started to fall. It stopped. He rolled from side to side and it
fell again.1 Four times this happened. Then it reached the earth. Coyote's
son heard grass blowing. He opened the box. There was the earth. He
got out, put the lid on the box, pulled the spider rope and it went up
again. He walked away. "There's where our house used to be. It's gone
now."
He saw traces of his father's camp. Near it he made a little fire. He saw
the people when they moved from there. His wife was carrying the house
of reeds, and the baby sat on top of it. When he came near the baby
looked back and said, "ba bd." It was baby talk for "papa." His mother
said, "Long ago your father went to the sky." Nevertheless it kept on.
Then she looked back and saw her husband. She said to him, "It is
pitiful the way we are treated. Your father sent me away. He took
Tern for his wife. He made me camp far away." Her husband said, "I
am going to kill him."
She said, "Every time I come close to the camp he says, 'Go far!'
Perhaps you saw how far my fire was from the people's camp." He
said, "Carry me with your pack. When you get to his house set the house
mats and me along with them against the wall of his house." "No, they
will kill me." "Don't be afraid. Put me down and untie the pack quickly."
She obeyed him. When they came close the people told her to go far
away. She kept coming closer. She put him down and untied the pack.
Coyote said, "What do you mean by following us? Didn't we leave be-
cause of you?"
Slowly his son got up. Coyote saw him. Then he began to cry, "This
is the way we take pity on your wife."
The son took a stick and clubbed Coyote, Tern, his brothers and his
mother. His mother said, "It isn't my fault. I didn't want to treat her
like that."
However he was merciless and he allowed only Black Swan and his
child to live. The three lived there.
That is the end of the road.
This myth has a wide distribution. Each of the variants listed below,
with the exception of those of the Thompson (MAFLS 6:21; MAM
12 :205, 296; IS 17), lacks the account of the young man's adventures in
the sky; in the majority of cases he is marooned on a high rock until
1 There is no indication of a taboo in this story. It is merely the way the spiders
move, as Julia says, "Like an elevator," making four regular stops.
The Myths and Tales 81
help comes to him. Otherwise the myths are identical with that of the
Coeur d'Alene except for minor variations.
Southern Puget Sound. Coyote's son's wives are two faithful mourning doves and
two spawn of male salmon ; Coyote's son takes back his wives ; Coyote, shamed by
his son, drifts downstream (UWPA 3:147).
Southern Puget Sound. Coyote's son's wives are two faithful ring doves and two
sawbill ducks; Coyote's powers, who assist him in getting his son marooned, are
identified as his sisters in his stomach, in the form of berries; when caught in the
river, Coyote floats downstream, his two stolen wives become sawbill ducks
(UWPA 3:145).
Sahaptin. Coyote's son's two wives are faithful Beetle and Duck; Coyote's son
meets obstacles five times in his descent in a spoon lowered on ropes by the sky
people; Duck becomes a duck; Old Coyote is shamed by his son (MAFLS 11 :135,
137, 138).
Nes Perce. Young Coyote's wives are faithful Black Cricket and White Swan;
upon Young Coyote's return White Swan dives into the water to remain wild for-
ever; Young Coyote becomes hunting chief again; he separates Coyote from home
by five valleys; Coyote drifts downstream (CUCA 25:376).
Wasco. Eagle has four wives, two of whom are faithful to him; Old Thunder
splits the rock on which Eagle is marooned ; Eagle revenges himself on Old Coyote,
who drifts down to the ocean (PAES 2:264).
Chilcotin. An old man is jealous of a young man's two wives (MAM 4:29).
Shuswap. Coyote's son (or nephew) has two (one) wives; Bush-tailed Rat and
Mouse (Spider Woman and Mouse Woman) by singing reduce the size of the
rock on which young Coyote is marooned ; Coyote's son and his younger wife part
company with his father (MAM 4:622, 737).
Columbia River. Coyote's powers are identified as four small objects he carries
under his arm ; Coyote's son causes a flood in which his faithless, fair-skinned wife
becomes a swan; Coyote floats downstream (Idaho Farmer, Aug. 7, 1930).
Cowlitz. Coyote's son has four wives, two with white legs whom Coyote covets ;
Coyote's son causes a flood in which his two faithless wives become mice; Coyote
floats downstream (MAFLS 27:243).
Thompson. Coyote's son has two wives, Loon and Mallard Duck; in the sky
Coyote's son is attacked by baskets, mats, awls, combs, and birchbark vessels, each
of which he reduces to harmless servants of man (cp. tale 1 of this work) ; he
transforms two blind women (partridges) who insult him into a foolhen and a
ruffed grouse ; back on earth he collects all the deer for his faithful wife and him-
self while the other people starve; Raven's children are discovered quarreling over
the fat which Raven obtained from him and the people return (cp. tale 9), they
are restored to plenty; Coyote, tricked by his son, is carried downstream.
82 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
The action continues into the tale of the Salmon Release (see tale 8) in the
versions from Southern Puget Sound, Nes Perce, Wasco, Columbia River and
Cowlitz. In the Ntlakyapanmq variant Coyote, adopted as a slave by four women,
releases fog and wasps (IS 7).
The element of the individual's homesickness for the earth while he
is in the sky country and his return home (accompanied by his sky rela-
tives), usually through the medium of the spider's rope, common to the
above myths, finds analogies in the following otherwise unrelated stories :
Wasco. The boy who married Sun's daughter (PAES 2:306).
Lower Fraser River. The children of Sun's daughter who wish to visit their
great-grandparents (IS 40).
Kwakiutl. The wife of Food Giver (MAM 5:52).
Tlingit. A man and his wife carried off to the sky (BBAE 39:251).
Chilcotin. Two sisters flee to the sky to escape from their husband, Skunk (they
are lowered in a basket by an old sky woman) (MAM 4:29).
In a Thompson myth Spider's thread is too weak to help a man down from the
upper world to the world below to visit his brother and Crow advises the man in
a dream to jump through a hole, roll over upon hitting an obstacle, and jump again,
which the man is obliged to do four times before opening his eyes in the lower
world (MAFLS 6:78).
An analogue to the sky encounters of Coyote's son is found in a
Kathlamet story:
A boy in the sky meets a man-eater, Evening Star whose house is filled with
human bones and eyes, and a mountain goat hunter, Morning Star with whom he
stays as son-in-law until he becomes homesick and is lowered to earth with his
family (BBAE 26:13).
In an Upper Chehalis myth a young man, who has escaped up a tree from his
captor, Lion, climbs up to the sky, encounters Evening who kills deer and men for
food, is rescued by Dawn's daughters and, accompanied by his family, is lowered
to earth by Spider (MAFLS 27:83).
In Nes Perce mythology a man, offended by his brother, climbs a tree in pursuit
of a pheasant; while his bear stands below winking, the tree grows ever taller,
until the climber disappears into the sky (CUCA 25 :163 ; cp. also Sahaptin MAFLS
11:158).
The Myths and Tales 83
A Sanpoil myth opens with the Coeur d'Alene setting though the
story is developed along different lines :
A younger brother, who covets his elder brother's wife, sends his older brother
for eagle feathers and maroons him on a cliff; the older brother fastens eagles to
himself which carry him to safety; he leaves his wife with his brother and goes to
his uncle (JAFL 46:148).
A list of myths of the Coyote-Coyote's son cycle, extending over a
wider territory than has been covered by this study, may be found in
MAFLS 11:120, footnote 1.
5. Little Beaver
Grizzly Bear with the help of false Coyote kills Coyote's four sons
Coyote adopts Little Beaver
Little Beaver is trained for revenge
Little Beaver kills Grizzly
Coyote's powers help him kill Grizzly's family
Coyote disguised as pestle seduces Grizzly's daughter
Coyote had a house. He had four children. The oldest went to visit
Grizzly Bear who lived on a hill nearby. There was a Coyote who had
turned against his own tribe and had made himself an ally of Grizzly
Bear near whom he lived. Every time he saw someone coming he cried,
"Go under the hill, not across the top." If they did so Grizzly could
easily come out and capture them. He would then run out and claw
and bite the visitor to death.
When the son of the true Coyote came to visit Grizzly gave him
something so hard to eat that it made all his teeth come out. As he
went home he followed the traitor's advice and went under the hill.
Then Grizzly killed him. The same thing happened to Coyote's other
three sons.
For a long time he mourned. Suddenly he stopped and went to the
river where he sat down on the shore. In the water he saw a little
beaver. He said to him, "Come over and stay with me because I am
lonesome. Then I can see you around my place. Go ask your mother."
Little Beaver paid no attention. Coyote said, "Do you hear?" but he
did not answer.
Then he disappeared. Coyote started to cry and kept it up a long
time. Then he went back to his house and lay down. Someone came in.
It was Little Beaver's mother. Coyote was covered up with his blanket.
She asked him, "Are you asleep?" "No." "You wanted my little one to
come to live with you. I came over to talk over the matter with you."
84 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
"Yes. I would like to have him. I can't help being so lonesome." "All
right, he may come, but he is very greedy. You will have to chop trees
for him to eat." "All right," said Coyote.
She went home and came back with an ax. Coyote began to chop. A
tree fell. Before he could chop another Little Beaver had eaten it. All
day long he chopped and he was never even a tree ahead. At night the
Little Beaver played around in the house, and he was so cute Coyote
had to laugh at him. The next day and the next Coyote was busy chopping
food for his adopted child. After some days of this he thought, "My, you
are a greedygut !" He cut another tree. It lay there. He looked around
for Little Beaver but he was gone. Then Coyote was sorry. He went
home, lay down and covered himself up with his blanket and cried.
Mother Beaver came in. "Are you asleep?" she inquired. "No." "My
child came home because you called him greedy." "I just said that for
fun. I like him. He plays around and then I feel happy. Then and then
only can I laugh." She said, "All right, if you chop enough for him to
eat he will come back to you. I am going to avenge the death of your
children." "All right."
The next day Coyote took up his ax again and Little Beaver devoured
trees faster than he could cut. For about a month he did this. Finally
there were only small branches left. In about two days all these were
gone. Little Beaver said, "I am going back to my mother." "All right,
go on home."
When he got back he was a man. His mother dressed his hair to
show he was grown up. She combed it and braided it, then she folded
it up behind, tied it and stuck his arrowpoints in it. Then she split in
two the toe next to the small one and advised him, "When you go in to
the place where Coyote's children were killed they will give you some-
thing hard to eat. You will see the marks of teeth in it. They will be
the marks of Coyote's poor children. The one who gives it to you is
Grizzly Bear, he killed Coyote's children. Go now."
Little Beaver went into the old man's house and sat down. He gave
him the hard food. The toothmarks of Coyote's children were in it and
said, xat'at'at'a as he ate it. Nevertheless he was able to eat it all up
because he had eaten so many trees. The old Grizzly said, "You are
not afraid of us." Then he went out.
Then the false Coyote began to cry, "He's lying down." That was his
sign to the Grizzlies. Little Beaver jumped up. He stepped into the
fire and caught a hot coal in his cleft toe. He took this so he could melt
pitch to fasten his arrowpoints. He ran toward the canyon and over a
cliff. Then he sat down to fix his arrows. He took the points out of his
hair. He blew the coal, melted the pitch and fastened the points to the
The Myths and Tales 85
shaft. Four times he did this and ran back. The false Coyote called to
him, "Look out, he'll claw you and bite you. Don't run on top of the
hill, run underneath," but Little Beaver went along the top of the hill,
shot Grizzly Bear and killed him.
He cut off Grizzly's paws and took them out. Grizzly's relatives began
to cry. "Keep quiet," said Coyote, "he'll be back." Little Beaver strung
the four paws on a stick, came back and threw them into the fire saying
"Take them, you can go defecate on them."1
Then he ran and they chased him. "Oyurayura. . . ." he went fast.
They caught up with him. He jumped into the water. They looked in
vain for him. He had gone into his hole. He went in, through his tunnel
under the river and out the other side into Coyote's house. He said, "I
killed the one who murdered your children, get ready to save yourself."
Little Beaver ran out. Coyote took out his powers and consulted them.
His first power said, "I will be a bear-trap, get me ready." The second
said, 'I will be the bait, I'll be fat for you to put in the trap." The third
gave him an arrow. The fourth told him to lie there as if he were dead
with his fur full of maggots.
Grizzly's father started after the enemy. He came to Coyote's house
saying, "I'm going to kill Coyote." When he got there he said, "I'm
going to bite you to death." He saw a trap baited with fat. He saw
Coyote lying there swarming with maggots. "I am going to bite you," he
threatened. "Go on, bite me !"
The bear tried to bite Coyote but his nose got stuffed with maggots.
His teeth were all loose. "I won't bite him now, he's dying already," he
said as he went out. On the way out the grease in the trap attracted him.
He reached farther and farther in until his head was in the trap, then
still farther until he was in up to his waist. The trap fell.
Coyote sang, " Axoiya xoiya xoiya, aunties, our trap caught him." He
jumped up, the maggots were all gone. He was well. His aunties, the
mice, ran and picked up rocks to throw at Grizzly. "Don't do that,"
he begged. Coyote took an arrow from his quiver and stuck it crosswise
in Grizzly's throat. His aunties threw the rocks down his throat. He died.
They cut off his head. Coyote took a stick and propped the mouth
open with it, then he climbed up and put the head on the house poles.
He fixed the trap again and lay down. Grizzly's mother now came and
acted just as her husband had, and she was caught in the trap the same
way. Coyote set her head on the house poles.
Grizzly's daughter ran out for revenge when she saw the heads of her
father and mother. She said, "I am going to get you, Coyote, I will bite
you. I am going to eat your flesh and bones. Nothing will be left of you.
1 Almost certainly a phrase taken from the Whites.
86 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
You are an ugly thing." She came close to him. He ran and she chased
him. He looked back and laughed. "You are very young." She said, "I
am going to bite you no matter how far you go."
He went over the hill. She followed but he was gone. She saw his
tracks, but as she was looking for them she saw a pestle lying there. She
thought, "I will take it with me." She put it under her dress. It moved
around. She was running aimlessly. She thought, "It must be this pestle
that is making me run this way." She threw it away. As she ran on
Coyote called to her, "Ha ha ha, your belly is getting big, you are going
to have a baby."
Coyote had turned himself into a pestle and had impregnated her.
She kept on saying, "I am going to bite you." Coyote kept on taunting
her.
That is all. The end of the road.
An analogous myth, in which Coyote's youngest son takes the place
of Little Beaver, is to be found in Okanagon mythology :
Grizzly Bear kills Coyote's two older sons; the youngest Coyote shoots Grizzly's
daughter; Coyote escapes from Grizzly by a ruse and drowns him (MAFLS 11 :79).
6. Coyote Devours His Own Children
Coyote shoots his neighbor, Deer
Coyote pretends to doctor Deer and kills him
Coyote kills Deer's wife and child
Coyote kills his own sons, spares his daughter
Coyote kills goose and eats it all while daughter hungers
Coyote's wife, Mole, saves their daughter
Coyote gets a noise in his head
Coyote and Deer were neighbors. Deer had two children, Coyote had
five, four sons and a daughter. Coyote used to go away every morning
and come back at night. Deer left at night and returned just before
sunrise. Coyote wondered why Deer was always away at night, so one
time he followed him. He saw him stop at a little gulch and eat. He saw
he was eating dirt. Coyote thought, "I'll kill him." He got his arrow
ready, but left it to dry. Then he warned Deer, "Don't travel at night,
now that the moon is shining. You might be killed."
Deer did not answer, and he did not heed the warning. Coyote took
his arrow and went to Deer's grazing ground. He made a brush house
in which he waited for Deer. Deer came and licked the dirt like meat.
Coyote shot him in the entrails, whereupon Deer ran home with Coyote
after him. Coyote arrived home first and blew ashes over Deer's blanket
The Myths and Tales 87
so it would look as if he had been there a long time. Deer ran into his
house, blew up the fire and groaned. Then Mole, Coyote's wife, heard it
"hi hi hi!" "Someone is suffering," she cried. "Oh, stop prowling around
in the night," said Coyote.
She got up and made a fire, then went in to Deer. "Where is it? Let
me look at it." "Here it is, the arrow is still sticking in," said Coyote
who had followed her. He pretended he was pulling it out but kept push-
ing it back and forth in the wound. Then he told Mole to make a fire in
the sweathouse. She said, "Halalas, what is the matter? It will be too
hot." "Don't answer me back, go do as I say."
Mole was obliged to make the fire. Coyote took Deer into the sweat-
house. Then as Coyote pulled out the arrow he sucked Deer's fat. "Be
careful," said Mole. "You shut up !" ordered Coyote.
Soon Deer died. His wife cried. Coyote told her to be quiet. After a
little while he said, "I will fix your hair in widow's style." He took a
knife. "Don't cry now. Put your head up."
He lifted up her braids and cut off her head. She died. Then Coyote
took a stick and killed one of the Deer Children. The other deer ran off.
Coyote butchered the deer and took the meat to his house. He said to
Mole, "Get out of my way. You might spoil my hunting luck."
She went out and made her own fire. She cooked and the children all
ate but she herself ate nothing. This went on for some days. Then there
was nothing but blood left. Coyote said to his eldest son, Raven Head,
"Go get some camas. We'll mix it with blood."
There were only two camas in the sack. "It is because Mole ate them
all. Your mother is a greedy thing."
Coyote went himself and looked, but the sack was full of dirt and
only two camas were there. He was very angry, "Now you are going to
die, you Mole."
He hunted a stick and went out to where she had been sitting, but she
was not there. She had gone into her hole. He put his hand in but could
not reach her. He cooked the blood. Then there was nothing to eat.
Coyote said to his youngest son, "Come here." He began to delouse
him. He bit him in the back of the neck pretending it was a louse. He
died. Coyote cried, "Ha ha ha, Chief Raven Head died." Then he said
to his children, "I guess we'll have to eat him."
So they ate Coyote's own child. He deloused, killed and ate the other
three sons in the same way. Only the little daughter was left. Coyote
said, "I won't kill you. You are pitiable. Come, I'll carry you. Let's
look for mama."
He went along carrying his child. Suddenly he heard a wild goose
way up in the air. Coyote looked up. He said, "I told you all I need to
do is to look at them and all cultivated people die."
88 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
He went on. The geese came closer, "uxapxapxapapap" they flapped
around him. He looked at them. They died. "Ha ! Now we'll have plenty
to eat, daughter." The geese lay all around. "Oh, that's fine. We'll eat
now." He went to get cedar bark to make a bucket. The baby said, "Oh
dadd, the gooses gone !" He hushed her up. "They know you have no
mother." He was making the bucket of bark when she lisped again,
"dadd, the gooses going."
Then Coyote looked up and saw the child had hold of the goose's leg
and the goose was flying off. "I won't let go," she cried.
Coyote ran right under the goose and grabbed her. Then he killed the
goose. It was the only one left. He made a bucket in which he cooked it.
He gave the head to the girl. He ate every bit and even drank the broth.
Then he saw the girl crying as she was eating the head. "Give it to me,
I'll fix it for you." He took it away from her and ate it all. She kept on
crying "Come ! Let me carry you. We'll look for mama."
After they had gone a long way they saw a woman who was wearing
a red dress1 digging camas. He said, "There's your mother," and to the
woman, "All our children are dead."
She did not even turn her head. He came closer and repeated, "All
your children are dead." Still nearer he repeated it but she kept right
on digging. Then suddenly she darted into her hole. Coyote peered in.
There he saw all four sons eating. "Why didn't you let me know? All
this time I have been mourning my sons. Make the door bigger so we
can come in. We are hungry." "Give me the little girl first."
He handed the baby in to Mole. Then the hole became smaller and
smaller. When it was just big enough for his eye to peer through he saw
his little daughter eating as if she were starved. Coyote called, "I'm
hungry too. Give me something to eat."
They kept right on eating and paid no attention to him. Gradually
the hole closed. Then said Coyote to himself, "I'll sleep here. I'll put
my ear down and I can at least hear them. The noise is as comforting
as if I myself were eating."
He fell asleep. Mole, hearing nothing, looked up. She saw his ear
was right over the hole. She took her pans (?) and threw them in his
ear. When he woke up he said to himself, "That's right, I was listening.
I'll look in again."
He heard "ola'u ola'u" in his ear. He wondered what it was. He tried
to shake it out. It kept on. He said, "Oh, my ! I have a nice noise in my
1 When Mole was home she wore gray but when she went out to dig camas she
wore a red dress. "Just as soon as she leaves me she dresses up," complained Coyote
whenever he saw her so.
The Myths and Tales 89
head. When I get to a celebration I will be called, 'The One with the
Noise in His Head.' "
That is the end of the road.
A close parallel to the Coeur d'Alene story is found in a myth of the
Columbia River tribes. There are but two minor variations : Coyote kills
three of his sons, sparing the youngest, who is however dropped to his
death by the escaping geese ; Coyote's wife finally leads Coyote back to
his children, reuniting the family (Idaho Farmer, Sept. 18, 1930).
The killing of a neighbor, relative or intimate friend is a common
theme in Coyote and Raven cycles. It occurs in myths of the Wishram,
Wasco, Tsimshian and Kathlamet.
Coyote warns the Deer people to look out for a mystery being; each morning
Coyote treacherously kills one Deer {Wishram PAES 2:161; Wasco PAES
2:271).
Raven visits his "brother-in-law" Deer ; the next day Raven kills and eats Deer
and his store of provisions (Raven also kills Deer's wife) {Tsimshian ARBAE
31:89; BBAE 27:63.
Coyote warns his house-fellow Raccoon of warriors ; Coyote shoots, pretends
to doctor, kills and eats Raccoon ; Coyote is left starving {Kathlamet BBAE
26:152).
In Thompson and Shuswap myth is found the theme of Coyote's at-
tempt to kill birds in flight.
Coyote knocks down geese which respond to his call ; the geese revive and carry
off Coyote's son; Coyote strikes his son by mistake; the geese escape {Thompson
MAM 12:310).
Coyote's son is unable to hold down the four swans which have fallen in response
to Coyote's song and dance {Shuswap MAM 4 :638) .
In a Shuswap myth of a supernatural type the ugly youngest brother succeeds in
depriving swans of their power of flight and clubs them after the shamans and
Coyote have failed (MAM 4:703).
7. Coyote loses his Eyes (Eye Juggling)
Coyote comes to Pheasants' house
Coyote bakes Pheasants' children
Pheasants kill Coyote and revive children
Coyote revives, but has a broken leg
Coyote eats his own marrow
90 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Children taunt Coyote ; he turns them into crossbills
Coyote juggles with his eyes which are stolen
Coyote steals Catbird's eyes
Coyote threatens a woman in the trail with nettles
The woman becomes Coyote's wife
Coyote and his wife come to a dance
Coyote tries to get fat which turns to rock
Coyote is buried in rocks
Woodpecker pecks rocks from Coyote's eye
Coyote taunts Raven who picks out his eyes
Coyote's wife scatters the remaining rocks
Coyote's wife aims arrow, Coyote shoots a deer ; wife pretends he missed
Coyote's wife gives him medicine for eyes
Coyote breaks taboo, eats medicine and becomes blind again
Coyote makes eyes of pitch
Coyote comes to house of old, blind woman whose grandchildren are dancing with
his eyes.
Coyote kills old woman ; grandchildren carry him to dance ; he recovers his eyes
Coyote leaves spittle behind singing while he runs off taunting his hosts
Coyote was going along. He went into a house where there were
many children. It was dusty in there. The mouths of the children were
dirty. "What are you doing?" "We are baking berries." "Where are
they?" "There in that sack." "Go get me a sack. I am going to bake
some."
They brought him a sack. He fixed the oven, put berries in, covered
them and put fire on top. "Eat so you grow fast," he told the children.
He ate also. "Did you have enough?" "Yes." "Who is your father?"
asked Coyote. "He Flaps on the Head."1 "And your mother?" "She
Darts between the Legs."1 "Bring another sack," ordered Coyote.
He killed the pheasant children and arranged them around the fire.
Then he went off. He sang. "They don't make their children mind."
The pheasants were picking berries and heard him singing for about
a mile. The man said, "I suppose he has done something to our children.
You stay here. I'll go see what is wrong." He flew home and found his
children all dead. He went back and told his wife. "It's pitiable about
our children." She said, "Let's follow him."
They flew. "Pheasants' children don't mind," sang Coyote as he went
along. The Pheasants took a road which ran right along the edge of a
cliff. They waited there for Coyote. He came along singing. The man
said, "I'll be the first, I'll fly at his face."
1 In the original there is a play upon words here making the two phrases at once
an obscenity and a threat. The threat was that the father would come flying sud-
denly past Coyote's head and, as he jumped aside, the mother would fly suddenly
between his legs.
The Myths and Tales 91
When he was right over Coyote he defecated. As Coyote jumped the
mother flew between his legs. He was so frightened he fell over the
cliff. The pheasants went home. It was awful to see the children. The
parents cried. They picked up the remains, washed them and stepped
over them. Then they became alive.
As for Coyote he fell from the cliff and died. He got up after a while.
He fell again. He found he had broken his leg. He looked where his
leg was broken. He saw marrow on it. He scooped it up on a stick and
tasted it. "My ! It's good, my marrow."
He ate it all. He took a piece of willow. He chewed it and stuffed it
into the hole in his bone. He ate off the end of the other piece of bone
and stuffed chewed willow in that. Then he pressed the two ends to-
gether. Some children saw him do this. "Self-Taster is Coyote," they
called at him. "You lie, you lie ! Come fix it for me ! I broke my leg."
Two of the children came. "That's for no good you say that 'Coyote
tasted himself.' I am only fixing my leg." He grabbed one of them and
twisted his mouth. He did the same to the other and said, "Now let's
see if you say, 'Coyote is a Self-Taster !' " But they could now say noth-
ing but, "tsu, tsu, tsu." They had become crossbills.
Coyote went off. He saw a man throwing up his eyes. He ran and
said, "My eyes, come back again !" Then they dropped into his sockets
again. Coyote said, "My gr-gr-gr-grandfather knew that trick too. Do
you think you are the only one who knows it?"
He took out his eyes and threw them up. "Come drop back, my eyes !"
But the man ran and caught them and Coyote had no eyes.
He went on. He heard someone say, "Coyote is going to fall off."
Coyote was pretending he could see and would not look at the man. He
thought, "Maybe he sees a deer." He asked, "Is it a deer you see?" He
made signs, "What? What? Where are you?" "There, don't you see it!"
Coyote took him by the head, "There it is. Come I'll aim your eye.
I'll point right at it."
He took hold of the man's head and aimed it, then pulled out his
eyes and put them into his own sockets. He could see again. He threw
the man over the cliff. He became Catbird (canyon wren?). He said,
"When anyone hears you he will become lonesome."
Coyote looked and saw that if he had taken one more step he would
have fallen over the cliff. He had eyes again but they were very small.
He went on. He saw a woman sitting in the trail. He said, "Move aside !"
She paid no attention. He said, "I told you to move over. Are you dead ?"
She sat still. He went near to her ear and shouted, but she did not
answer. He went still closer and said, "Are you blind?"
92 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
He was thirsty. He went down to the spring. He drank. He found
some nettles and pulled some out. He went back and said, "If you don't
move I'll touch you with these." He touched her with them. "Don't!
I'll move. Only don't touch me with them." He sang, "If you don't move
I am going to touch you with nettles." "Stop it ! I'll move. I'm going with
you." "Why should you want to go with me?" "I'm going with you."
"Why didn't you say so long ago?"
They went along together. At night they heard singing. Coyote said,
"Let's go see what it is." The woman said, "No, we are going on."
"Just for a little while." She said, "No !" and went on.
Coyote went in. The people were dancing. He danced too. He saw
hanging bladders full of fat. He said, "I will blow out the light. They used
to dance in the dark." He blew it out. He found the tallow and jumped up
at it. There were only rocks. He tried another bladder. It made a noise
like rocks. "Light the light," he said. When it was light again he saw
there were no people. "Where are you ?"
Everywhere he moved there were rocks. They came closer and closer
together. "Where are you, my partners ?" he cried, but no one answered.
He cried and cried but finally he could not even move his head for rocks.
In the morning he heard animals pecking. "Come over and help me out.
Peck me out of here."
Woodpecker pecked around his nose. "You are pitiful," he said. "Peck
out my eyes so I can see people." "All right. I will get you out." He
pecked all around Coyote's eye. At night he said, "It is dark now. I
will leave you, but I will come back in the morning."
He went home. He tied up his head. "What's the matter?" asked his
wife. "I bet you were pecking at that Coyote." "No. I was pecking for
something to eat. All day I was busy at it. That is why my head aches."
The next day Woodpecker worked again. About noon he got to
Coyote's eye. Then he could see with one eye. "Now you are all right.
You can see again. My head aches terribly, so I will leave you."
Coyote could see the sky. Soon he heard "cu cu cu." He saw it was
Buzzard flying above him. "My ! You are ugly ! I shouldn't be looking
at you. You are black. Your legs are rough, your eyes are white, your
nose is long."
Just as Coyote said, ". . . ugly" Buzzard swooped down and, "tc'ar
tc'ar," picked out his eye. Coyote set up a howl, "I can't see any more."
He took his head in his hands and moved the other eye to the hole.
Buzzard picked it out.
Then the woman, who was sitting where Coyote had left her, threw
out her belt and caused the rocks to scatter. She led him away. Soon she
saw a deer. She said, "There's a deer. I wish there was a man to shoot
The Myths and Tales 93
it." Coyote said, "Am I not a man? Fix an arrow for me and aim it.
You hold it still and tell me when it is ready. Then I'll shoot."
She did as he directed. He killed the deer. Then he praised himself,
"My, I am a pretty good shot ! I killed that deer all right."1 The woman
said, "You shot a tree." "Oh! I was just talking." "Come let's get the
arrow." She took it out of the deer and put it away. Then she led him
around in a circle all day. Finally Coyote said, "Aren't we near the place
where we can go through because I think I know it? It seems as if we
were going the wrong way." "We're a long way from there." "I don't
know, we've already gone over many hills." Then she told him. "No,
we've only gone over one. It was bad to walk over."
Coyote had thought he was going over many logs all the time. The
woman was lying to him. He had really shot the deer. They were right
near where the deer was lying. "We'll camp here," decided the woman.
"Sit down right here. I will make the fire."
She made a big fire. Then she said, "I am going to fix some medicine
for your eyes." Coyote sat there patiently. She cut up the deer and broke
the bone at the knee. "My ! It sounds good. She is breaking the deer's
leg." "I just broke a stick." "Oh, I was only talking." She roasted the
liver, tci • • • lasasa. "My ! That sounds good !" "The wood is wet, that
is the reason it makes that snapping noise." "I was only saying. . . ."
She took some fat and tied it up. "It is true you killed a deer." He
said, "I know I did." "I will lead you over to get the medicine. We'll
eat when you get back." "Don't you taste any till I come," he begged.
"We'll eat together." "Go on, hurry ! Take this," she said as she handed
him fat tied up in deer intestine. "When the water comes up under your
arm throw it in, but don't look back at it. Come without looking back."
Coyote started off. He looked back. He saw the woman cooking.
"Don't eat till I come," he called. He had not even gone as far as the
shore whent he thought, "I didn't even see what kind of medicine she
gave me. I better look at it so if I have sore eyes again I'll know what
medicine to use." He saw it was fat. "Why that's not medicine, that's
something to eat," he said and bit at it. He swallowed it all and every-
thing got black before him. "Wa wa wa" he cried. He tried and tried to
vomit it up, but in vain.
"What's the matter now?" said the woman. "You crazy Coyote. You'll
have rust around your eyes. You think I'll lead you around again soon.
You can just keep wandering around."
She went off in disgust. Coyote went along crying. He ran into some-
thing. He felt around. He was in the timber ; it was a tree. He took some
1 The woman must have been a Colville because Coyote said "deer" in the Col-
ville language and the man must speak the woman's language (Julia) .
94 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
pitch and rubbed it in his eyes. Then he could see a little but everything
looked blurry. He got more pitch. Whenever it got warm the pitch melted
and he had to keep on making new eyes.
After a time he saw a house where someone was singing. An old
woman lived there. She had four grandchildren who were dancing and
singing with Coyote's eyes. The old woman herself was singing to ac-
company her pounding of sunflower seed. Coyote went in and saw she
was blind. "Well, you are pounding away," he said cheerfully. She did
not answer so he tried again, "You are home today." Again, "Oh, I
didn't know." "Don't you know anything?" "No." "Don't you know
Coyote took away my eyes?" They are dancing with some eyes and
playing with them. "Oh! I didn't know it." "Come in again tonight. I
have four granddaughters.1 They'll stop playing with the eyes then.
Come back and as soon as the sun goes down I will be taken over and
I will have my eyes for the night." "All right, I'll go along too."
Then she warned, "Go along now, that is the Chief, Chief Coyote."
"Is he a chief ?" The old woman said, "Really you are pitiful. Of course
Coyote is a big chief like the deer with antlers." "Well I guess I better
go then."
Then Coyote took a stick and killed the old woman. He pulled off her
dress and while doing so tore his eye a little. He pressed the tear to-
gether and the hair stood out straight. He put her dress on himself. He
tied up his eye. He laid the old woman in the corner and covered her.
Then he sat down and pounded and sang, "My grandchildren are play-
ing with Coyote's eyes."
The children heard him. They laughed and said, "It is Coyote's voice.
What is the matter with our grandmother?" They went in and asked
her. "I have been singing all day. That's why I am hoarse." "Why is
your eye tied up like that?" "Some of these sunflower seeds flew into
it." "Well, go get ready." "I am ready, I'll go get Coyote's eyes," sang
the old woman.
They ate what she had pounded. They went to the dance. The oldest
one carried the old woman on her back. She started to run. "Oh my chest
hurts, go more quietly." "No, we're in a hurry !"
She had not gone far with her load when she put it down and her
sister took it up. Every time Coyote asked one of them to slow up she
refused at first, but finally consented. So it went on until all the old
woman's grandchildren had carried him. When they came in sight of
the dancehall the youngest put him down and the people helped him in.
He said, "Where are Coyote's eyes?"
4
1 The granddaughters were birds : Nighthawk, Waterbird, xwi'u xwi'u, and
Killdeer.
The Myths and Tales 95
They set the pot of water containing them near him. He felt around
in it. "Here are my eyes lying in the water. Oh thank you! At last I
have my eyes back. Let's dance now." Coyote took up the eyes and the
people began to dance. He sang, "Put out the light. Long ago they used
to dance in the dark."
The light was put out. He tore off the dress and threw it down. Then
he spat on the floor and ran out. The spittle kept on singing but it got
weaker and weaker. "Let's have light, the old woman is dying." They
got a light. There was no old woman. They found it was the spittle
singing. The eyes were gone from the pot. Then they said, "It must
have been Coyote himself."
Outside they heard him laugh. They knew him only too well. "The
Chief has taken his eyes from us," they said. Coyote ran off, they
chased him.
The end of the road.
Each of the four main episodes of the Coeur d'Alene myth — Coyote's
experience with the Pheasants, Eye-Juggling, the deception of the blind
hunter and Coyote's recovery of his eyes — occurs frequently in the
myths of other tribes, but a combination of all four, such as is found
in the case of the Coeur d'Alene, does not appear. Three of the episodes
however are combined in an analogous Shuswap myth :
Coyote comes to Foolhen's home; he gums the eyes of wood partridge, prairie
hen and partridge, Foolhen's children; the mother and children frighten Coyote
off the cliff. Coyote plays catch with his eyes ; Daw steals thtn ; Coyote makes eyes
of rosehips. Coyote comes to the house of a woman whose four daughters are
dancing with his eyes; Coyote snatches his eyes and runs off taunting them (IS 7).
Detailed accounts of Coyote's loss of his eyes which correlate with the
Coeur d'Alene Eye- Juggling and Eye-Recovery episodes are found in
the mythology of the Sahaptin, Nes Perce, Kutenai, Thompson and
Coast Salish:
Coyote imitates Wildcat juggling with his eyes; Wildcat steals Coyote's eyes;
with the aid of Elbow Boy Coyote steals a man's eyes; the man becomes Catbird.
Coyote comes to an old woman who tells him the people are dancing with his
eyes; Coyote kills her, her daughters carry him to the dance, he regains his eyes
and flees (Fox overtakes Coyote; Coyote sends Fox back) {Sahaptin MAFLS
11 :155, Nes Perce JAFL 21 :19).
Snipe juggles with his eyes; Coyote steals Snipe's eyes; Snipe takes Coyote's
eyes; Coyote makes eyes of gum, of foam, and of huckleberries; he steals some
children's eyes. Coyote kills an old woman, her two granddaughters carry him
96 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
to the dance, he recovers his eyes and escapes, taunting the people (Kutenai BBAE
59:183).
Deer people imprison Coyote in a house of ice ; Coyote licks a hole through and
passes out his body parts; Raven (Crow) steals his eyes; girls taunt blind Coyote;
he takes the eyes of one, Catbird; the people put red bearberries in her sockets.
Coyote kills a half-blind woman, girls carry him to a dance, he regains his eyes and
runs off (Thompson MAM 12:308).
Among the Coast Salish tribes variants of the myth in different settings
have been recorded and grouped together. In an Upper Chehalis version,
following the general pattern for that group, and in the Wynoochee and
Satsop versions Woodpecker pecks Xwan out of the stump in which he
is imprisoned and takes away his eyes and anus; Xwan uses wildrose
centers (berries) for eyes ; he tricks Snail woman into trading him her
eyes. Xwan comes to the people who are playing with his eyes, retrieves
his property and runs away. In the Cowlitz myth, Xwa'ni, imprisoned in
a stump, eats up all his flesh, including his eyes ; when released and
revived by the Woodpeckers, he uses dogwood blossoms for eyes ; he
tricks Waterbird into exchanging eyes with him; he juggles his eyes;
Raven steals one. Xwa'ni kills an old woman, her granddaughters carry
him to the games, he recovers his eye and runs away (MAFLS 27 :384).
Three less elaborate accounts of Coyote's eye- juggling experience are
related in a Thompson, a Nez Perce and a Shuswap myth.
Coyote imitates Blue Grouse juggling with his eyes; Raven steals Coyote's eyes;
Coyote uses bearberries for eyes ; a boy taunts Coyote, Coyote takes the boy's eyes,
gives him his bearberries as substitutes and transforms him into a bird. [In an
appended fragment it is related that Coyote assumed the appearance of an old
woman and was carried to a gathering by four girls, whom he impregnated. (The
recorder was unable to find anyone who knew the remaining details which, it was
claimed, dealt with Coyote's recovery of his eyes.)] (Thompson MAM 12:212.)
Coyote imitates a man juggling with his eyes; the man causes Coyote's eyes to
be lost; Curlew taunts Coyote; Coyote takes Curlew's eyes and gives him service-
berries as substitutes (Nez Perce CUCA 25:68).
Coyote imitates Holxoli'p juggling with his eyes; Raven steals Coyote's eyes;
Coyote uses two roseberries for eyes (Shuswap MAM 4:632).
The assumption of a disguise to recover lost property is a stylistic
device of widespread distribution.
In one of numerous typical examples, a Haida myth, Raven pulls off
an old man's skin and gets into it ; in this disguise he gains entry to the
house where the stolen arm of the chief's son is kept ; he recovers it and
flies away as Raven (BBAE 29:136).
The Myths and Tales 97
The Coeur d'Alene account of Coyote's experience with the pheasants
finds analogies in myths of other tribes not linked up with the eye-loss :
Sanpoil, Pend d'Oreille, Okanagon and Shuswap.
Twelve Willow Grouse children tell Coyote their parents are out gathering ber-
ries; Coyote assumes the children are calling him names, puts pitch in their eyes
and blinds them ; the Willow Grouse parents hide and frighten Coyote off the edge
of a cliff; Coyote falls into the water below in the form of a basket1 (Sanpoil
MAFLS 11:101).
Coyote gambles with Chickadee and wins everything; Coyote bakes Prairie
Chicken's children; Chickadee revives the children; the Prairie Chicken parents
frighten Coyote off a cliff; Chickadee recovers his clothes and bow and arrows
(and shoots an arrow chain) (Sanpoil JAFL 46:157).
Similar to the above is the Pend d'Oreille myth which is also found in a like
form among the Okanagon: Coyote cooks ten Willow Grouse children; the Grouse
parents, Flying Past Head and Flying Past Between the Legs, frighten Coyote off
a cliff; as Coyote falls, the Grouse snatch back Wren's losses to Coyote at gam-
bling; Wren revives the Grouse children; Fox revives Coyote (Wren shoots an
arrow chain)2 (MAFLS 11:114).
Coyote puts gum in the Grouse children's eyes ; the four Grouse mothers clean
their children's eyes and startle Coyote into falling off the precipice; Coyote falls
into the river and is doctored by his wife; he floats downstream (Shuswap MAM
4:628, 740).
There is also the analogous sequel to the Kutenai myth in which Coyote gives
Locust a ride : Coyote and Locust meet a Grizzly Bear ; Coyote sets Locust down
at the edge of a cliff ; Locust scares Grizzly into falling off the cliff ; Grizzly dies.
To the above myth is appended the footnote : "The idea of a person being frightened
by the sudden flying up of birds or by a sudden movement, and caused to fall down
over a cliff, is rather widely spread" (BBAE 59:2, 293, n. 2).
Further references in addition to those already considered include the
Ojibwa (PAES 7, pt. 1:187,415; pt. 2:41); the Lillooet (JAFL 25:
305) ; the Assiniboin (APAM 4:110) ; and the Pawnee (CI 59:459).
In the Ojibwa versions Nanabushu eases himself upon young birds (twelve
ruffed grouse) who call themselves Winged Startlers (Little Frightener) ; their
mother, Ruffed Grouse, washes them and scares Nanabushu into falling into the
water; he swims away, admitting the birds' identity.
In the Lillooet fragment Coyote puts gum in the eyes of the Grouse children,
which their mother cleans out again.
1The action continues into the story of the Salmon Release (see tale 8).
aNone of my informants knew the Arrow Chain tale (G.A.R.).
98 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
The Coeur d'Alene episode of blind coyote shooting the arrow which
the woman aims for him appears frequently in other myth bodies, often
elaborated to the proportions of a myth complete in itself, never as in
the Coeur d'Alene combination. In each of the versions the blind hunter
eventually regains his sight with the assistance of Loon's supernatural
power and the woman who deceived him is deserted or killed : Chilcotin
(MAM 4:35); Tsimshain (ARBAE 31:246); Haida (MAM 8:212,
263; MAM 14:354); Southern Puget Sound (UWPA 3:139);
Kwakiutl (CUCA 2:448) ; Rivers Inlet (IS 229) ; Tlingit (BBAE 39:
104) ; and Smith Sound Eskimo (JAFL 12:169; ARBAE 31 :952).
Thompson and Shuswap examples of Woodpeckers' assistance to
those entrapped in rocks reveal one further point of departure for a
comparison with a Coeur d'Alene element.
Coyote gets caught in a cave ; four Woodpeckers succeed in splitting the rock ;
Coyote is released {Thompson MAFLS 11 :9).
Bluejay after killing a monster is trapped inside a cliff; the Woodpeckers peck
him out (Shuswap MAM 4:662).
8. Coyote Hunts with Crane and Releases Salmon
Chief sends his two daughters to Crane as wives
The girls eat camas off door ; they are fed with meat
Crane accompanies girls on visit to their father
Crane carries much food in little
Coyote taunts Crane about his loud voice
Crane conducts hunt
Coyote imitates Crane unsuccessfully, kicking dead tree to start fire
Coyote disobeys Crane's orders : Crane calls deer ; Coyote does not have arrows
ready and shoots only two fawns
Coyote imitates Crane unsuccessfully, carrying deer on each side of belt.
Coyote goes down river
Salmon dammed up by four man-eating sisters
Coyote's powers become digger, armor, baby and log
Sisters adopt weird foundling
Foundling breaks salmon dam, releasing salmon, escapes as Coyote
Four Wolves and Fox steal Coyote's salmon
Coyote steals wolves' eggs, leaves excrement in their place
Coyote distributes salmon, leaving none where he is refused wife
Coyote becomes rock
There was a village. Far from the village Crane lived with his grand-
mother. Crane was a good hunter and always brought back many deer.
One day the chief said to his daughters, "Go to Crane's house. Maybe
he'll share venison with you. Then we'll have a bite of meat to eat."
The Myths and Tales 99
The girls went to Crane's house. As they came in sight they heard
his noise, qwar qwar. When they came up to the door they saw it was
dotted with cooked camas. They picked it off and ate it. As they did so
Crane said, "Leave grandmother's things alone. That is the old woman's
door curtain. Grandmother will look for something for you to eat."
Pieces of camas were fastened to the door curtain but each girl thought,
"I am so hungry for meat. I hope they will give us something besides
those pieces of camas that are left over." Crane said, "That is not really
camas. Come in and let grandmother cook for you."
They went in and sat diagonally opposite the grandmother. At the
other end of the fire on their side was a pile of rocks. Crane sat there.
Then he said to his grandmother, "Hurry cook for them so they can eat."
His grandmother cooked meat. After it had boiled she dished it up
and placed it before the girls. Then she took a piece of fat and cut it in
half, then in quarters. She put two quarters in each dish for them. The
eldest whispered to her sister, "Don't eat it ! The meat is greasy. Keep
is so we can grease our hands."
Crane said, "Go ahead ! You can eat it all. There will be plenty to
grease your hands." So they ate it all.
Mornings Crane would go out to get deer. He would get two each
time. He hung one on each side of his belt. About two days later he
would go again and do the same thing. He never took more than two
but there was always plenty of meat of all kinds hanging in the house,
fresh, smoked and dried. One morning he said to his grandmother,
"Get food ready and do not grudge it. Today they are going back to
their parents. She made huge bundles of meat and set them outside
the door.
When the older girl came out she thought, "That certainly is plenty
of meat. But how can we carry it all?" Just then Crane said, "I'll go
with you. I'll just put it in my belt." The grandmother said, "It's all
ready." Each of the girls had a baby. Crane said, "You just carry the
babies and I'll carry the rest." When they were finally ready the bundle
was very tiny and Crane stuck it in his belt. The oldest girl was Little
Squirrel,1 the younger was Chipmunk.
As they came over the hill Coyote spied them and shouted, "There
he comes, the one with the raucous voice. I don't suppose he has brought
anything for us, his in-laws." When they came up to the door of the
house of his wives' father Crane threw the bundle down and went in.
The two sisters who had been away so long were glad to see their mother
and she was glad to see her grandchildren and took both babies in her
1 A squirrel a little larger than a chipmunk with spots on its face.
100 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
arms. They were all very happy. Then the elder said to her mother,
"Go get the bundle. Now you will eat well."
The mother went out. The girl said, "Take half for yourself and half
for the rest of the tribe." The mother was just about to untie it, but
her daughter stopped her, "Don't untie it. Get a big mat first." She got
a small mat. "That won't do, you must get a real big one." As she
untied it it spread and became a huge pile. She put half away for herself
and half she tied in a number of bundles for her tribesmen. Meanwhile
Coyote was eaves-dropping.
The girl said to her mother, "Go call the people of the tribe. They are
hungry." Coyote shouted in, "Shall I call them all, even the children?"
He shouted, "Come ! You are all invited to the chief's house." He had
no more than got the last word out than he ran into the house. The people
all came. Some even sat outside. The hosts set the food before them.
Coyote ate until he was full. Then he pushed the meat to his children and
they ate all they could. Still there was much left.
Coyote said, "Shall we not take the leftovers along?" "Yes," the
hosts answered. Whenever Crane went out of the house he made his
noise, kwar kwar. Coyote complained, "My, you talk loud!"
One day Crane said, "Get ready ! We'll go get fresh meat." "Is any-
body deaf that you have to holler so?" said Coyote. They prepared for
a hunt. They got their moccasins ready.
Crane said, "Bring me some skins to smoke." They slept. Early in the
morning they got up. "Hurry and eat," ordered Crane. The cooks
hurried. Crane asked, "Are you finished eating?" "Yes, we are finished."
"Go outside." All the people gathered outside.
"Are you all here?" asked Crane. "Yes," they answered. They had
not gone far when Crane said, "Let us stop here and make a fire to
warm our hands." Coyote asked, "What are you going to shoot that is
as tame as all that?" They went on. They came to a dead tree. Crane
kicked it. It crackled as it began to burn.
Coyote said, "Oh you know that trick too. My father's father's father
used to do that." Coyote went to another tree and kicked it, but it did
not burn. The impact made him fall over backward. "Oh ! That one
must be wet," he said, as he looked for another. He kicked that and
fell over again. He tried a third time and failed, then Crane said, "You
burnt-eye of a Coyote, come warm your hands and stop that foolish-
ness." Then he said to the people, "Go on now, I guess your hands are
warm. Drive the deer toward me."
The people scattered to their positions and Crane busied himself pre-
paring sticks with pieces of scorched skin.1 The people drove the deer
1 This has reference to the method of hunting described by Teit, ARBAE 45 :99 ;
cp. also tale 40 of this work.
The Myths and Tales 101
up. As they came near Crane directed the men not to kill more than
two each. "All right now ! Get your arrows ready to shoot !" he said.
Coyote did not get ready. His arrow was tied up. "What are you go-
ing to shoot? I'm not going to get out an arrow when I don't see any-
thing to shoot." "Ready now !" said Crane.
Then "hi • • • hi ■ • •" he called, and immediately the deer ran up. No
one shot more than two. Coyote was leaning against a tree when he
heard a noise on the snow. He saw it was a deer. He reached for his
quiver but he could not untie it. So he tore the quiver trying to get out
the arrows. He aimed at the biggest deer and shot it. He shot another
and there were no more.
Then said Coyote, "It's not because I listen to you but because there
are no more." Then he tracked the deer he had shot. He went only a
little way and there lay a very small fawn. He went farther and there
lay another, smaller than the first. The people came and looked. "That's
not my game," said Coyote, justifying himself. "I chose two big ones."
"We'll go along and look for your game." They came up to it. "It's your
arrow," they told him. "Someone must have substituted his deer for
mine," insisted Coyote. Then at last he kept quiet.
"Drag your deer to one place and pile it up," said Crane. Then he
checked up, asking, "Did each of you get two? How about Coyote?"
"Only two fawns he got." "Well, skin them now and go on."
Crane hung one of his deer on each side of his belt. Coyote saw him,
"So you know that too. My father's father's father used to do that." He
tried the same stunt but, as he went along his game dragged on the
ground even though he had only very small fawns. His belt was really
Mole's carrying strap. "My ! It might break !" He tied it up more firmly
and fastened his deer again, but it did break. Crane said, "Burnt-eye,
you better take it right home to your children." Coyote used all his
strength. He became thirsty. He came to some water and drank. He was
burning hot. He thought, "I'll take a swim."
He undressed and swam. As he was swimming he saw a riffle. He
thought, "I'll go over the falls." He let himself float over. "My ! it's nice !
I wish there was a larger falls like it."
He saw a large falls. He floated over it and came to where a wide
pool spread into a river.1 He followed the river and saw some people.
"We cannot eat salmon anymore because the dam was closed up," he
heard them saying. "Why was it dammed up ? Anyway why don't you go
and break it up?" "No, the people are man-eaters." "What kind of man-
eaters?" "Four little girls."
1 "It must have been the Snake or the Columbia," interpolated the interpreter.
102 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Coyote laughed, "How could little girls be man-eaters ! I'll go break
it up." "No you will be killed." "Who is afraid of four little girls? I'll
go and break up the dam. What are their names?" "Snipe, Waterbird,1
xwi'u xwi'u and Killdeer. "I'll hurry on."
He went. He came near the house of the man-eaters which was the
cliff over which the water falls. This cliff made the dam and stopped
the salmon. Coyote consulted his powers. They said to him, "My ! you
give us chills, relative."2 "Hurry, tell me what to do. The people are
starving for salmon." The first said, "I will be a thing for you to dig
with." The second said, "I'll be your armor, a hard thing to protect
your hands and the back of your head." Said the third, "I'll be you in
the form of a baby," and the fourth, "I'll be a log." "All right!" Then
they continued, "I will be a baby in a box on the log."
Coyote rolled it and it floated on the water, a baby in a box on a log.
As the man-eaters were sitting in their house they heard the cry of a
small baby, "wr wra." They thought it sounded like a person. They
looked toward the water and saw the log with the box on it. They said,
"Surely some people must have tipped over. Doubtless the parents were
drowned and only the child is left." "Let's go get it. The one who gets
there first can have the child."
They jumped into the water and swam toward the log. They caught
hold of it and pushed it ashore. The baby was crying. One of them
put her finger in its mouth and it sucked in the whole finger. She jerked
it out. Then one made a kind of mush of salmon and the baby stopped
crying at once. He was satisfied and he went to sleep. He woke up and
cried and nothing but the salmon would satisfy him. "utum turn turn"
was the noise he made. He grew very fast. He was learning to crawl.
Whenever the girls went to dig Nez Perce camas roots they took the
baby with them. They made a little shade for him and fed him salmon.
Soon he was able to eat by himself. They dug and dug. Then he said
to Waterbird, "I'm thirsty a w'd wa!" "I'm busy now, go get a drink
by yourself." He crawled off as a baby but, as soon as he got out of
sight, he became Coyote and ran to the dam. He dug at it for a short
time, then ran back. When he came within sight again he crept.
One of the girls said to the other, "Go look after the baby. He might
fall into the water." One went and saw him creeping back. She picked
him up. He was crying. She quieted him with some salmon gruel. About
an hour later he wanted a drink again, "You know how to get it, go on !"
1 A small waterbird, about the size of a sparrow, gray. Cp. tale 26 in which
Waterbird is an insignificant boy. Perhaps this was after he had been overcome.
2 Coyote to address his powers uses a special reciprocal term of relationship which
is never used elsewhere.
The Myths and Tales 103
This time Coyote dug a larger hole in the dam. They kept doing this
for many days. One day Coyote put on his armor and took his digging
stick. He stayed so long one of the girls said, "Maybe he fell in." One
of them went to look and saw a Coyote. "My ! There's a coyote !" she
called. They all ran with their digging sticks. They came up and clubbed
Coyote over the head and all over his body but his armor protected him.
As they beat him the dam broke. "Come ! salmon come !" he sang. The
salmon were released and went one after another upstream. The man-
eating girls wept bitterly as they saw it.
As Coyote went along the stream he became hungry. He said to the
salmon, "Come, come up on dry land." He cut a stick for a club and
stunned a salmon. He made a fire and roasted it on a spit. He thought,
"I'll take a nap while it is cooking. Then just when I wake up it will
be nicely done." He went to sleep. The wolves saw the fire, the salmon
roasting on the spit and Coyote sleeping near. "Let's go take what he is
cooking," they said.
There were four Wolves and a Fox. They took the salmon off the
stick, took a little of the grease and rubbed it around his mouth and
over his hands. They took the burned stick and burned him around the
nose and eyes.1 They went to a little hill and sat down where they could
keep their eye on Coyote. They ate all the salmon. Coyote woke up,
"That's right ! I remember I was going to eat my salmon." He stretched,
got up and looked. There was nothing there. He thought, "Could it be
that I have already eaten it? No, I know I didn't eat before I slept, but
it looks as if I did eat, only I don't feel full."
"u • • • u • • •," he heard. He looked up and saw the Wolves grinning at
him from the little hill. "They are the ones who stole it," he said, then
called, "You are going to get it !"
They ran and Coyote ran after them, but he soon tired of the chase
and decided to turn back to where he had caught his salmon. He was
thirsty. As he bent down to drink he saw something sticking out of the
water. He went farther but there was always something frightful looking
at him. "My ! I can't get a drink, I'll consult my powers." He consulted
them, "Hurry up, I am thirsty. You give a person the chills, my rela-
tives. I want to drink, go and get that fierce thing out of the water."
"That's only your own face you are seeing. The wolves made you look
fierce. They burned your ears and face. Go drink! Look at your face.
After you drink follow the wolves and your friend, Fox, over that way.
They have gone to a lake where they are swimming for eggs. When they
come out they'll roast the eggs. They'll sleep while the eggs are baking.
1 That is why he is called Burnt Eyes.
104 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
You go and take them out of the fire, but leave five (imitations), one
here and one there. Go over and steal the eggs. At each place defecate
and leave excrement to bake. Then go up on a little hill and sit where
you can watch the others. You will see them wake up. They will say,
'They must be done by this time.' "
Coyote looked at them. He saw the Wolves and Fox standing in the
water. They came out of the water and fixed the eggs to bake. "Let's
sleep while we wait for them. Just when they are cooked we'll wake up."
They slept. Coyote broke the five eggs one by one. At each place he
defecated. He took an egg and rubbed it all over Fox's face, hands and
body. Then he went up to the knoll and ate the rest of the eggs. Mean-
while he watched the others. After a while he saw one go over to where
the eggs were baking. He saw him break one open.
"Wake up, we can eat now. Our cooking is done," he said to the others.
They took them out and found nothing but excrement. Coyote said,
"What's the matter? Why don't you cover over your dung?" The wolves
said, "It's that Coyote that did this to us !"
They ran after Coyote. Because Fox ran fast he caught up with
Coyote. Coyote looked around at his friend, "Why did you do that?
The eggs were for you to eat. Instead you got them smeared all over
yourself."
"Why do you bake your own dung as if it was food?" taunted Coyote.
"Why do you turn against me like this. I used to be your friend." "Oh !
I was just going along with those Wolf fellows." They went on awhile,
then Fox left Coyote.
Coyote went to where the salmon were. He took one to a river in
the Nez Perce country and dropped in half of it. He went on to the
Colville Reservation near Colville and dropped a portion of salmon.
Then he came to Spokan Falls. There he laid down a salmon and said,
"I'm a Coeur d'Alene. I'd like to have a wife." He was refused. He went
to the Coeur d'Alene living on Lake Coeur d'Alene and asked for a wife.
He arranged some sticks1 in the water, set up some poles and made a
dam. He crossed to the opposite shore and fixed a rock in the water.
There he hid his salmon.
He went up to a man and asked him for his daughter. "Give me your
daughter for my wife," he asked. But no ! Again he was refused. Then
he went to St. Joe and Liberty Lake. He shouted to the salmon, "Don't
come into this river. There are masmas roots1 in it."
Then he went toward the Nez Perce country and shouted, "Don't go
1 The rocks may be seen now looking like the sticks Coyote used.
2 Masmas roots smell very strong, something like cabbage boiling.
The Myths and Tales 105
into the river where the Coeur d'Alene live in this direction. Swim
that way."
Then he asked for a Nez Perce woman and got her. There was a nice
smooth rock there which was very large. Just as he was standing there
the refined people heard a sound of transformation. Coyote had become
a rock.
The end of the trail.
The story of the salmon release has a wide distribution, but not in
combination with a narrative of a hunt with Crane as in the Coeur
d'Alene version. The Crane story was not told by other tribes, even
as an independent myth, although the element, "Much in Little" which
it contains is used frequently in diverse settings.
In a Kutenai myth Coyote places himself at the head of a line of hunters though
he has not as yet obtained any game ; he puts flicker feathers in his moccasin so
that when he runs fire breaks out ; the fire surrounds the door and he kills them ;
his powers instruct him to blow on his game to make it small, so that he will be
able to carry it in his belt as the hunters do (BBAE 59:135; VBGA 23:170).
In a myth of the Bella Coola a boy receives a belt on each side of which he can
hang one mountain goat and thus carry his kill home with ease despite its size
(MAM 2:59).
Further examples of persons with special powers reducing the size
of large loads (of food, utensils, clothes, wood, etc.) so that they may
be carried with ease, in gloves, mittens, boxes or baskets, and the ex-
pansion of the articles to huge proportions when deposited at home, occur
among the Bella Coola (Is 250; MAM 2:90, 105) ; Chilcotin (MAM
2:27, 34, 39) ; Shuswap (MAM 4:689, 712, 748) ; Haida (MAM 8:202,
265) ; Kwakiutl (CUCA 2:283) ; Thompson (MAFLS 11:16, 29, 37,
44, 54); Tlingit (BBAE 39:223, 286); Tsimshian (PAES 3:95;
ARBAE 31 :210) ; and Southern Puget Sound (UWPA 3 :85).
The diminution of deer or elk meat specifically, to expedite the task
of packing it (most frequently inside mittens or gloves) is treated in
myths of the Thompson (MAFLS 6:25,41; MAM 12:205, 263, 268,
375); Kutenai (VBGA 23:163; BBAE 59:287); Wasco (PAES
2:289) ; Southern Puget Sound (UWPA 3:93, 94, 117) ; and Shuswap
(MAM 4:690, 691).
Although the Salmon Release in its many phases was not found
preceded by a Coyote-Crane myth, it frequently followed some other
myth common to the Coeur d'Alene Coyote cycle in other forms.
Among the Thompson, Columbia River, Cowlitz, Southern Puget
Sound, Wasco and Nez Perce tribes the Salmon Release follows the
Theft of Coyote's Daughter-in-law.
106 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Coyote, floating downstream as a result of his son's revenge, is taken in in the
form of a plank by two women and used as a dish; the dish eats their fish, is
thrown into the fire and rescued in the form of a baby. Reared by the women, the
child ultimately releases the salmon they have dammed up, as well as smoke,
wasps, salmon-flies and beetles ; Coyote introduces the fish into all the rivers, but
sends none up the Similkameen where the girls refuse his present; at Ntaxase'p
the youngest girl accepts it and becomes sick ; he cures her ; in Okanagon country
he is given Wolverene's daughter for a wife ; his own daughter is transformed into
a rock in the Columbia River (he introduces the fish up the Columbia and Spokane
Rivers, but not as far as the Spokane's source, for there he is refused a wife ; he is
given a wife at Kettle Falls and settles there) {Thompson MAFLS 6:27; MAM
12:205, 297; Columbia River Idaho Farmer Aug. 7, 1930).
In another Thompson variant Coyote's floating down the river into a salmon
trap, and his ultimate adoption as the slave boy of the owners result in his release of
the fog and wasps which they were preserving in two baskets. With this the myth
ends abruptly (IS 18).
In the form of a wooden spoon, a dish, a horn spoon, and a cooking vessel,
Coyote, floating downstream, is taken in by women but each time is thrown away ;
five girls (Sandpiper Sisters) take him in in his disguise as a baby; one of the
digging-sticks breaks, indicating trouble; Coyote breaks the girls' salmon dam and
releases the fish; he sends them down the Columbia River; only the small fish are
left to go up the Cowlitz ; the girls turn into white birds ; Coyote's excrement sis-
ters instruct him how to call salmon ashore; as Coyote sleeps five boys (Wolf
Brothers) steal the salmon and grease his hands and mouth; Coyote steals the
boys' pheasant eggs and paints their lips ; he gets two girls ; they run away from
him (he transforms himself into a stone beside a waterfall) {Cowlitz MAFLS
27:245; Southern Puget Sound UWPA 3:148).
Coyote, drifting down to the ocean, is taken in by two women in the form of a
child in a cradle, and releases their dammed up fish ; the fish crowd up the Colum-
bia River ; Coyote transforms the women into birds ( Wasco P AES 2 :266) .
Coyote floats downstream in the guise of a baby and is taken in by five Swallow
girls despite his recognition by the youngest ; he breaks down the sisters' fish-trap
and escapes, shouting back names for his children by each of the four elder sisters
{Nez Perce CUCA 25:380).
Finally, one may include in this group a second fragmentary Nez Perce version,
which has in place of the long Coyote-Coyote's Son introduction a brief account of
an attempt of Coyote's Son to play a trick on his father by giving him a rope of
gut with which to carry venison. Coyote's rope breaks five times ; Coyote swims
down the river and is taken in by five girls in the form of a baby ; he breaks their
dam and releases the salmon; he introduces the fish up the river (JAFL 21 :18).
In Shuswap and Sanpoil myth the salmon release follows the episode
of the Grouse frightening Coyote off the cliff :
Coyote, having drifted into a weir, is taken in by the girl owners for a dish; the
dish eats their food, is thrown into the fire and rescued in the form of a baby;
The Myths and Tales 107
Coyote is raised by the women, impregnates them and releases the fish; he con-
ducts the fish up the Fraser and Thompson rivers (Shuswap MAM 4:629).
In the Sanpoil myth the boy (Coyote), rescued from the fire, breaks the dam
after a month's time and turns the girl owners into Watersnipes and Killdeer ;
conducting the fish up the rivers, Coyote calls salmon to shore to feed the people
whom he passes ; wherever girls refuse him for a husband he makes falls to prevent
the salmon from ascending (MAFLS 11:101).
The Kutenai combine the Salmon Release with Coyote's attempt to
call game :
After the animals have taken revenge upon Coyote because of his overdone imi-
tation of Panther's calling of the game, Coyote drifts down the river as a plank;
used by women as a dish, they discard it for consuming all their food; as a baby
Coyote is raised by Nighthawk and Snipe; he impregnates them and releases their
salmon; rebuffed at Wolverene town, he takes the salmon on to Sparrow's town
where he is given a wife (BBAE 59:173; cp. tale 17 this work).
The Salmon Release myth is as commonly found as an independent
unit as it is in combination with other episodes. In the case of the
Sahaptin, the Thompson and the Wishram Coyote starts out with the
definite role of a transformer. In each case he decides to look into the
hoarding of the salmon by various women; has himself adopted as a
baby; breaks the barrier and releases the fish according to the general
outline of foregoing versions.
In the Sahaptin myth, after Coyote has freed all the people held captive as fish,
he calls for the salmon (in accordance with the advice of his dung boys) belonging
to Beaver and cooks it, but some people (Wolves) steal it while he sleeps ; Coyote
steals the people's eggs and paints them with the yolks ; overtaken by Fox, he
strikes him on the chest leaving permanent marks (MAFLS 11:139, 140, 142).
In the Thompson account Coyote not only releases salmon, but also opens up
boxes, containing smoke, wasps, salmon-flies, and beetles at the mouths of both the
Fraser and Columbia rivers; he conducts the salmon up all the larger streams of
the interior breaking down all barriers ; he transforms his daughter into stone
(MAM 12:301).
In the Wishram version Coyote takes similar action against the two women
who had preserved the fish in a pond and enables the fish to escape into the Great
River for the coming people; the women he transforms into swallows (PAES 2:3).
In versions of the Okanagon Coyote floats down the river into the two wet wet
sisters' weir (as he is engaged in introducing fish into the various rivers) ; he is
taken in as a baby, breaks the weir and escapes, transforming the sisters into
sandpipers; he catches a salmon on his fourth attempt and eats his fill; at those
places at which his suit is rejected by the girls he leaves no fish; where the old
108 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
people are kind to him however he leaves some salmon ; he transforms his daughter
into a stone; given two wives by the Wolverene people at Colville, he provides
them with much fish (MAFLS 11:67, 70).
In a Sanpoil version Coyote floats up to the Dove sisters as a wooden platter ;
thrown away for eating their food, he returns as a baby, breaks their fish-trap and
releases the fish; Fox steals Coyote's salmon while he sleeps and greases Coyote's
hands and mouth ; Coyote steals the eggs of Fox and two birds whom he smears
with egg yolk; Coyote tears out dams wherever he is refused a wife, marries
Gopher at Kettle Falls; his faeces disguise him as a Kutenai so that he can marry
his daughter; Prairie Chickens broadcast Coyote's incest; Coyote's daughter jumps
in the river (JAFL 46:173).
In a Haida myth Raven changes into a baby and steals salmon from women who
are drying fish. He also steals from a man who catches salmon by surrounding
himself with a stone wall and calling the fish to jump at him. In neither incident
is there a Salmon Release motive; the myth is concerned with a trickster, rather
than a transformer (MAM 8:212).
Scattered incidents in Coyote's role as distributor of the fish (acknowl-
edged as one of his definite assignments, MAFLS 11:3; MAM 4:637)
are found as such in various myth bodies.
In Sanpoil stories Coyote regulates the distribution of the fish ac-
cording to whether the people are willing to give him a wife or not. He
supplies the tribe of an old man and woman who give him their daughter
with much salmon and teaches them how to prepare the fish (JAFL
46:169). He destroys the falls at places where people refuse him their
daughters and conducts the salmon further up the river (JAFL 46:172).
When his request for a girl's hand by proxy is refused by her parents,
he changes the course of the river and leaves the people only sage
brush roots, turning the salmon into rocks (JAFL 46:176).
In Shuswap mythology Coyote places a dam across the Upper Chilcotin River
to prevent the salmon from ascending, thereby retaining them for the Shuswap. The
reason for the restriction in this case is uncertain; some say Coyote acted thus be-
cause the Chilcotin were a bad people (MAM 4:642).
Coyote's role as distributor of the salmon is usurped by Ho'tsani in an Upper
Chehalis myth. Cloud takes Ho'tsani down to West Wind, where Ho'tsani lives
with two women; he discovers a pool of water in their house and sends the spring
salmon in it to all the different rivers ; he almost forgets the Chehalis River ; con-
sequently there are few salmon there (MAFLS 27:137).
The theft of a person's food while it cooks is a theme of wide distribu-
tion in the form of a complete myth or a subordinate incident. The
numerous versions fit with minor variations into the Coeur d'Alene out-
The Myths and Tales 109
line of the episode : food is left to cook while the owner sleeps ; the thief
tampers with the sleeper to make him believe he ate the food himself ; the
owner retaliates and attempts revenge against the thief, with a greater
or less degree of success. The story is told in manifold settings and
with a wide variety of distinctive details among the Kutenai (BBAE
59:165, 299; VBGA 23:169)— Coyote vs. Lynx; Nez Perce (JAFL
21 : 18)— Coyote vs. the animals; Thompson (MAFLS 6:71, 11:7, 8;
MAM 12:342)— Coyote vs. Fox; (MAM 12:310) Coyote vs. women;
(MAFLS 11:6) Coyote and Fox vs. women; Shuswap (MAM 4:683,
753) — Coyote vs. people; (MAM 4:633) — Coyote vs. Fox; Kwakiutl
(CUCA 2 :141 )— Mink vs. children ; Tlingit (BBAE 39 :14)— people vs.
Raven; Haida (BBAE 29:113) — Raven vs. Crow; Comox (IS 74) —
Ka'iq vs. Wolves; Upper Chehalis (MAFLS 27:150)— X wane vs.
Wolf; Southern Puget Sound (UWPA 3 : 76)— Wildcat vs. Moon;
and Bella Bella (IS 233) — Raven vs. tree. The trickster's simple sum-
mons to a salmon to jump on shore when he is hungry is used again by
Raven in a Tsimshian myth (BBAE 27:53).
The Coeur d'Alene myth, as well as others of the versions discussed
above, concludes with Coyote's transformation into a rock. This is a
common stylistic device for the final disposal of a transformer among
the Thompson and Shuswap. For example, in a myth of the Shuswap (IS
4), the four transformer brothers at the conclusion of their work sit
down on the bank of the Fraser River and watch a girl on the opposite
side ; they remain sitting there until they are transformed into stones.
9. Story of Lynx
a. by Tom Miyal
1. Lynx by looking at chief's daughter impregnates her
2. Baby cries without stopping
3. People hold baby as test of its fatherhood
4. Lynx proves to be the father
5. People stamp Lynx into ground
6. Chief's daughter and baby deserted
7. Magpie and Rabbit return with blankets for baby
8. Lynx revives and smooths himself
9. Chief and his people starve
10. Coyote and Raven return to chief's daughter for food and are choked by her
11. Rabbit and Magpie return, are fed and given much food to take back with them
12. People discover food and decide to return to former home
13. Damages are paid to girl by village
14. Bluebird's blue coat is missing
15. Bluebird's coat supplied and accepted
110 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
16. People return to Lynx and plenty
17. Coyote finds nothing but fat and bones in his house; catches two fawns when
the others catch deer
Lynx lived with his grandmother not far from the other people. The
chief had a daughter. One night the people went to the chief's house to
a council. Lynx climbed the poles of the chief's house and saw his
daughter sleeping. He thought, as he looked at her, "Soon she will have
a baby." Not long after she had a baby. The chief asked, "Whose child
is it?" "I don't know."
The baby cried all the time. At last the chief said, "If the father
would hold his baby it would stop crying." Raven said, "It's my grand-
child." "If he stops crying when you take him, it is your child." Raven
took the baby but it kept on crying. Coyote said, "Give it to me. It's my
grandchild." He took it but it kept on crying. No one could quiet it.
Everyone had held it but Lynx who was not there at the time. The
chief said, "Go call Lynx."
Lynx told his grandmother, "Come sit on my back. It's my child,
When the people find it out they will kill me. As soon as I take him I
will pass him to you. Then you run off with him."
They did that. Lynx took his grandmother on his back and sat right
near the door. The chief said, "Hand the baby around again. Let every-
one take him." Each one wanted the child but he would not stop crying,
"uxa, uxa." When Lynx took him he stopped crying and laughed,
"gaw!"
"Let's try once more," ordered the chief, but no one could quiet the
child. When it came Lynx's turn again he let out his claws and clawed
his baby. But no ! It stopped crying. The chief said, "We can't allow
this. What shall we do? Shall we stamp on him?"
Lynx threw the baby to his grandmother. Coyote took Lynx by the
neck, threw him down in the middle of the floor, and they all stamped
on him until he sank so far into the ground that only his fur showed.
Then the chief said, "Leave him there ! Let none of you take pity on
my daughter. We will leave her here to die." Everyone left. Only the
girl and her baby were there. She sat by the fire. Then Magpie turned
back. "Where are you going?" "I forgot something which I need."
"Hurry then."
Magpie went back, took off his blanket, threw it down and cried, "It
is for the baby."
Rabbit also pretended he had forgotten something and took his blan-
ket back for the baby. The girl just sat there and cried. She was cold
and hungry. Then way off she heard singing. It kept getting nearer
The Myths and Tales 111
and nearer. She found it was Lynx. As he sang his fur began to stand
up. He slowly rose out of the ground. He got up. He smoothed his body
down to his ankles and wrists and up as far as his neck. As he was
smoothing his head the girl went and took hold of him, "Don't do that !
I am nearly frozen." "You will always think me ugly when you look at
me. Let me fix up my body. Then I'll look nice." He smoothed his feet.
They were nice. She said, "You're good enough." "You will look at me
and think me ugly." "No, you are all right as you are." So he said, "All
right. I'll make our house. Let me go."
He made a good house and built a fire. He killed deer. They always
had plenty to eat.
The people who had left made camp. They hunted. Magpie and Rab-
bit each killed a fawn but the rest of the men caught nothing. After a
time they were all starving. Finally the chief said, "I guess someone
better go and see Lynx." "I'll go," volunteered Coyote.
He went. He saw there was a fire in the house. The little boy was
now big enough to play about. His mother had given him a tallow disk
to roll. Coyote watched where it stopped and waited there. When the
child rolled it again it stopped near Coyote. He grabbed it with his
mouth. The boy chased him and howled, "He is going to eat my play-
thing." His mother came out. "What is the matter?" "Coyote is trying
to eat my plaything."
She caught Coyote and choked him. Then she tore the fat out of his
mouth and gave it to the boy. When Coyote got back home he said
nothing, no matter what the people asked him. Some days afterward
Raven said, "I'll take my turn. I'll go to see if we can get something
to eat from Lynx." The same thing happened to him. When the woman
choked him his eyes turned white. He lay there. Finally he got up and
went back, but would answer no questions. "Why are your eyes so
white?" "I don't know."
The next morning Rabbit said to Magpie with whom he lived. "Let us
go to see Lynx." They came to Lynx's house. They saw many deer
lights hanging outside. They wanted to take them. The woman came
out. "Come in," she said. She gave them a lot to eat. "We and all our
people are starving," they told her. 'Why didn't you come here? Come
whenever you want to." They ate and ate. "Eat until you have enough,"
she said.
"No, we are saving some for our children." "That is not necessary.
Eat until it is all gone. Then you will have something to take back to
your children anyhow." They ate it all. "I guess we'll go now."
She fixed a pack of food for them to take back. "When you get back
112 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
don't grudge it. Put it all down and let your children eat their fill. Then
if there is any left, dry it."
They took the food home. Rabbit's children ate, ts'a ts'a ts'a, and
Magpie's, aninin. The people asked, "Why do they make that noise?
They never do that other times." "Maybe they are dying and eating
each other."
Lynx's wife had given Magpie and Rabbit strips of dried fat to take
home. This was the choicest food one could offer. The Rabbits were
chewing these strips with one side of the mouth and pine moss with the
other so that if the people should look in they should not see they had
meat. A person went over and peeped in at the door. "I don't know
what it is. Maybe they are choking."
The people went to bed. The next morning Rabbit and Magpie left
again. The people said, "They have no fire. Go see what is the matter.
Maybe they all died." Raven said, "I'll go."
He flew over, "tear tear tear" the people heard as if something were
being caught. He went in. Then the chief said, "Go see. If anyone died
Raven is probably picking out his eyes."
The man who peeped in saw that Raven was eating meat. The chief
said, "Take it from him and bring it to me." They brought it over.
"Come, we'll all have a little."
The people all came to the chief's house. The chief cut the meat very
small. Each person had a bite. "Now we'll pay damages to my. daughter.
We'll take her some presents. Each of you put something in this blan-
ket," ordered the chief. They contributed cloth, handkerchiefs, a big
pile of valuables of every kind they had. "Take it to her and say it is
from her father. He wants to come back. All his people are starving."
The people took the blanket full of valuables over to Lynx's home.
The woman looked at them when they came in and turned away. Lynx
tried to be polite, "So you got here," he said. They put down the bundle.
"That is what your father sent you. Now I guess we must go back." No
one said a word. Lynx thought, "It's up to the woman. Whatever she
thinks will be all right." His wife said nothing. Finally she got up and
untied the bundle. "No! It is not there, Bluebird's coat of blue," she
said.
The people picked up the bundle and took it back to the chief. "Your
child said, 'No, I won't accept it. Bluebird's coat is not there.' " "Go
call Bluebird."
The girl said to her husband, "They are unreasonable to offer me
what they don't want themselves."
The chief sent Bluebird's coat over. The men laid it down. "Here is
what you want," they said. She laughed. "Go tell them to come in," she
The Myths and Tales 113
said. They went in and saw the house full of meat. The people were fed
and went home. Coyote came in. "Just bones," he said, as he untied the
sack he had brought back with him. He untied another and found it
full of fat. He ran to the chief and complained, "I got nothing but bones
and fat." He was told, "I can't help it. Tomorrow we'll get fresh meat."
The next day the people led by Lynx went hunting. They impounded
the deer. Each person caught two. Coyote had two fawns.
b. by Dorothy Nicodemus
The numbers of the abstract refer to corresponding numbers in the
analysis of version a. ; only the incidents which differ are mentioned.
1. Lynx marries the chief's daughter without permission
5. Coyote, Raven and Grizzly stamp on Lynx
7. Magpie and Rabbit step lightly
9. Magpie and Rabbit rewarded with fawn while others starve
10. Raven chokes on grease stolen from Rabbit and Magpie; Lynx's wife beats
Coyote and Raven
14. Bluebird's blue necklace is not among gifts offered to pay for desertion
15. Bluebird's necklace supplied and accepted
17. Coyote gets only bones and scraps ; Raven gets nothing but heads
There was a village of which Eagle was chief. He had a daughter.
Lynx took her for his wife without the chief's permission. She had a
child. The chief became angry. "I wonder whose child it is," he said.
Coyote said, "It must be the child of my first-born."
The child cried all the time. The chief said, "If one of you picks it
up and it stops crying it will show he is the father."
The people passed it around. When it came to Coyote, he said caress-
ingly, "My daughter's child.1 You poor thing! My daughter's child."
But no ! It kept on crying. Then the chief said, "Is everyone here ? No
one is missing. My ! Lynx is not here. Go call him." Someone went to
call him. He refused to come. Then the chief said, "Go call him again.
If he says 'No' again tie him up." Then Lynx went reluctantly with
them.
The chief ordered the child to be passed around again. When it came
to Coyote he said, "My poor little daughter's child, sh ! sh !" But it did
no good. Coyote passed the baby to Lynx. He took hold of it under the
arms driving in his claws but even then it nearly stopped. As he quickly
passed it on the people looked up in surprise. It started again w'd'a wa'a!
Right behind Lynx sat his grandmother. The baby was passed around
1This is very funny showing that Coyote did not know the proper kinterm. He
should have said, "My son's child."
114 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
again. Now it was crying less; it was only sobbing, "uxa uxa!" It came
to Coyote but his caresses started it again. Then it came to Lynx and
stopped altogether. Lynx threw it to his grandmother who ran to her
home with it. The chief said, "Go get him. Lay him down in the middle
of the house and jump on him."
Coyote and Raven were the first to grab Lynx. They put him in the
center of the house and the chief gave the word to start. Grizzly was
the first to jump on him. As the people stamped on him Lynx gradually
sank into the earth. Coyote jumped from as high a position as he could.
Finally nothing but limp fur was left of Lynx. Then they all left the
girl there by order of the chief and set out for a new camp.
The girl sat there sadly watching the corpse of Lynx. One morning
she heard a song which came faintly from a long distance. As it came
nearer and nearer she realized it was Lynx singing. Soon she saw his
fur begin to stand up and then his ears and body emerged from the dirt.
Then his head came up and finally he jumped up. He sat down. The girl
watched him. He smoothed himself as far as his wrists. He smoothed his
legs to the ankles. That is why his feet now have long hair. Then he
smoothed his body as far as his neck. That is why his face is not smooth,
but looks "gathered up." That is also why he has no nose. Just as he was
smoothing himself between the neck and chin the woman ran up to him
and said, "Stop it now, I am lonesome." "But I might be ugly." "All
right. I don't care if you are." So he went to his house and brought all
his meat over. He had a very large amount.
Those who had left Lynx and the girl hunted but had bad luck. They
tried to corral the deer but got nothing. Magpie and Rabbit had stepped
as lightly as possible on Lynx and they each secured a fawn as a reward.
As they took it home the woman saw them. "Rabbit and Magpie got
lots of deer," the woman reported. At last all of the people became very
hungry. Rabbit and Magpie said, "Let's go see Lynx." When they ar-
rived at Lynx's house they were rewarded with much food and grease.
He gave them food for their children and said, "Tomorrow you may
move back here and stay with us."
That night the children of Rabbit and Magpie made much noise, the
Magpie children on'an'an, the Rabbit children ots'ats'ats'at. The chief
was alarmed. "You better go look. Maybe they are dying of starvation."
The children were busily eating. From one side of each mouth hung a
strip of meat and grease which Lynx had given their parents and from
the other side hung a strip of moss. The messengers did not see the
grease but only the moss, and reported to the chief. "Just moss the poor
things are trying to eat."
The Myths and Tales 115
Then everything was quiet and the chief thought. "Perhaps they have
died," so he sent someone to investigate. Raven however had gone
without orders. As he flew over the house he saw something white inside.
He swooped down and found grease. When he ate it he choked on it.
The chief suspected Raven and said to someone, "Go ! I suppose he'll
be picking out the eyes of the dead if we don't watch out." The people
went and pulled the fat out of Raven's throat. They divided it and each
had a very small piece. When Coyote and Raven came up to Lynx's
house his wife beat them on the head and killed them.
The chief now ordered the people to contribute their most valuable
possessions to compensate for the desertion of his daughter. "Bring
your valuables. We are going to pay damages," he said. "Mine are the
best," boasted Coyote. They took the best they had, tied them in a blan-
ket and about ten of them took it to Lynx's house and deposited it there.
Neither Lynx nor the woman paid any attention to them. "We have
laid our valuables on a blanket so we will all feel better toward one
another," they said to the woman.
The woman got up and untied the bundle. She looked at the contribu-
tions of Coyote, Raven and the others. One thing was missing. It was
Bluebird's necklace. Because it was blue it was very nice. "No," decided
the woman, "as long as Bluebird's necklace is not part of the payment
we cannot make up." The people took the payment back to the Chief and
reported, "No ! She says, 'Bluebird has not brought his contribution.' "
"Go call him." Bluebird was asked, "Why didn't you put your beads in?"
"No, I didn't think they'd care for them. They are so ugly." So he gave
them. When the woman saw them she took them, "My ! Thank you !"
she said. "You may come back here to live. Come back to live in your old
houses. Each one will be full of meat."
Coyote however found only bones and undesirable scraps in his house
and Raven found nothing but heads.
This is the end of the road.
Desertion episodes following the general outline of the Coeur d'Alene
myth — all the people leave the condemned ones ; a kind person conceals
fire and food ; the deserted ones prosper ; the starving tribe returns — are
widely distributed in the mythology of other tribes. In a number of
instances moreover the motivation for the desertion in question duplicates
that of the Coeur d'Alene myth, namely, the impregnation of a girl by
Lynx (or Wildcat). The resultant abandonment in each of the com-
parable versions follows the general pattern outlined for the Coeur
d'Alene story with the exception of a payment of damages. A listing of
116 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
the myth bodies in which Lynx (1-3)1 or Wildcat (4,5,6) * elements
are found follows. Minor variations may be found: in the method of
the girl's impregnation — Lynx (Wildcat) spits upon the girl, urinates
down the house-post, puts hair upon the ground, the girl scratches her-
self with Wildcat's cane; in the choice of the contest to establish the
father's identity — the father holds the child, the father engages in a
shooting contest, the child selects a bow and arrows ; in the procedure
followed in Lynx's revival — the girl doctors Lynx but he is left with
an ugly face, the girl steps over Lynx four times and strokes his head,
Wildcat bathes the scabs from his body, the girl peeks at Wildcat in the
sweat lodge the fourth day and he is obliged to emerge with his face
still shriveled; and in the selection of the kind characters — Magpie,
Rabbit, Crow.
Shuswap (MAM 4:684; ARBAE 31:950; IS 9).
Thompson. Lynx spits on a girl and impregnates her because of his displeasure
with her grandmother, Mountain Sheep (her aunt Elk) who concealed her from
all the young men (a continuation of the Thompson narrative of The Girls who
stole Dentalia, cp. tale 24 this work). (MAFLS 6:36; 11:12; MAM 12:216, 300.)
Kutenai. Two grown sons of Lynx and Doe prove best qualified among the con-
testants for the role of the sun and the moon. (BBAE 59:287; VBGA 23:163 and
cp. tale 1 this work.)
Nes Perce (MAFLS 11:195).
Sanpott (JAFL 46:138).
Cowlitz ( MAFLS 27 : 193 ) .
In a second Kutenai version (Dyer ms.) the story may again be found
practically intact, despite the fact that it is interwoven in this instance
into the narrative of the girls who stole dentalia (cp. tale 24). A similar
combination has been referred to above in the case of the Thompson
Lynx myth but, whereas the Thompson merely juxtapose the episodes
of the two stories, the Kutenai combine them into an inseparable whole.
Young Doe is kept hidden from the people by Frog and her grandson, Rabbit;
Lynx discovers the bark upon which Young Doe is accustomed to urinate and
makes medicine over it ; he hides a teepee, food, clothing and a coal ; Young Doe
gives birth to a child ; the baby cries without stopping ; the men go in to the baby
as a test of its fatherhood ; Lynx proves to be the father ; the people kill him and
desert Young Doe and her child ; Magpie gives Doe a cover for the baby ; Lynx
revives and sends Doe for the hidden supplies ; he kills many deer ; the other people
starve ; Magpie returns, breaks off a piece of the baby's tallow, and is invited in to
eat ; he is sent back to fetch the rest of the people ; Lynx's son is kidnapped by Owl
and Toad but, with the help of her dog, Grizzly Bear, Young Doe recovers him;
she and Lynx have another son ; the two boys become the sun and the moon (cp.
this work tales 1 and 2).
1 These numbers refer to the numbers of the elements in the abstracts.
The Myths and Tales 117
The Haida, Tsimshian and Chinook likewise have narratives of the
desertion of a man and a woman to whose union the people object
which again follow the same general Coeur d'Alene outline though they
are not concerned with Lynx or Wildcat.
Among the Haida a girl and her lover who has a bad reputation are deserted;
Magpie returns to the deserted ones and is given fat to take back to her children;
Raven discovers it, returns and steals the deserted child's ball of fat; he is thrown
into his cellar amidst hooves and ears, as is Coyote; the rest of the people return
to plenty (MAM 14:368).
In the Tsimshian myth the chief's daughter and the poor boy who has won her
in a contest at knocking down a copper and shooting a white bear are deserted in
shame ; the deserted boy kills a frog and gets supernatural power ; the princess
marries the boy; a man and his slaves sent by the chief are fed; the chief returns
with his people ; the boy becomes a chief ; he goes into the sea in his frog blanket
(BBAE 27:145).
In the Chinook story a boy and his sister are deserted when the girl is impreg-
nated unknowingly by water dripping from her hair; supernatural people send a
whale in to the deserted one's beach; Crow and Robin are fed and return to live
with the brother and sister; Bluejay leads the people back; the fifth day the party
gets past gales, but is surrounded by snow; upon receiving the hand of the chief's
daughter in marriage the deserted youth allows the people to reach their homes
(BBAE 20:51).
Stories of the desertion of one person because of disobedience, dis-
ease, or the like following the same general desertion outline despite
their dissimilar motivation are found among the Kwakiutl;
A chief's daughter is deserted by her tribe when she eats sea-eggs out on the
rocks; the princess catches the prince of Chief Wealthiest in her salmon-trap for
a husband and becomes wealthy; she dispatches gull with blubber for her kind
grandmother, who is discovered eating it; the tribe gathers mussels as damages for
the princess ; the girl's husband gives the chief food which runs out his anus ; the
girl drives her father out in shame (Kwakintl CUCA 2:247; ARBAE 31:950;
Newettee IS 180).
A chief's son feeds the people's salmon to eagles in exchange for feathers; the
boy, his grandmother and slave are deserted when provisions run short; the eagles
supply the boy with food ; the boy drops a piece of meat into a canoe ; he feeds in-
vestigators sent by the chief; one takes meat home secretly and his child is dis-
covered choking on it; the people embark for their former home; the boy finally
allows them to land; he becomes chief (Tsimshian BBAE 27:170).
Led by Coyote, the people desert a bad boy ; the boy finds fire and seeds left him
by his grandmother ; he fishes up a sea monster woman who marries him ; the two
fill many lodges with her goods; the magpies visit and are fed; their children are
118 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
heard eating the salmon they have brought back; Coyote returns to the old camp
site and transfers much goods from other lodges into his own ; he fetches back the
rest of the people {Nes Perce CUCA 25:356).
Even in such desertion stories as have a setting entirely different from
that of the Coeur d'Alene Lynx story, the standard stylistic features
consistently appear — someone is secretly kind to the deserted one, the
deserted one prospers, he and his people are reunited, the kind are re-
warded, the cruel punished. Such parallels may be found in a Tsimshian
(IS 301) or a Rivers Inlet myth (IS 229).
Each of the myths included above has been discussed from the point
of view of its parallelism to the Coeur d'Alene myth taken as a whole.
Individual episodes in the desertion story however are frequently singled
out to become of themselves the central theme for complete stories.
The father test is the subject of Tlingit, Nootka and Kwakiutl myths.
A woman dreams she is married and gives birth to a child; the child cries with-
out stopping; the child's grandfather assembles all the men of the village, then all
those who live in trees, seeking its father among them; the child crawls up to an
old man at the door and stops crying; the old man marries the girl {Tlingit BBAE
39:238).
Mink gives a piece of the tar he is chewing to a girl ; she gives birth to a child ;
the girl's father has all the men step one after the other before his daughter and
the child; the child will have none of them until Mink appears and takes it up;
thus the people learn Mink is the father (the child announces Born to be the Sun
[Mink] is its father) {Nootka IS 108; Kwakiutl CUCA 2:495).
Raven's theft of children's food is the theme of Tsimshian (ARBAE
31 :75) ; Tlingit (BBAE 39:5, 92; ARBAE 31 :940) ; and Haida myths
(BBAE 29:129; MAM 8:183, 208; MAM 14:298; IS 309; ARBAE
31:940). These stories are practically uniform: Raven sees children
(Crows) playing catch with pieces of seal fat or blubber, joins in their
game and eats the fat. In one Tsimshian version the children take re-
venge upon Raven ; they tell him they dive down from a tree to obtain
the blubber; he dives and is killed (BBAE 27:42).
Such other minor stylistic devices of the desertion story, as the dis-
covery of food in the village as a result of a child's choking over it, may
be used by narrators in any variety of myth. The food discovery has
already been met with, for example, in the Thompson story of Coyote's
theft of his daughter-in-law (MAFLS 6:21 ; cp. this work tale 4) where
Raven's children are heard quarreling over the fat which Raven has
obtained from Coyote's son, who had collected all the deer in one spot
for his faithful wife and himself ; upon the discovery the starving people
The Myths and Tales 119
return to Coyote's son and are fed. In conclusion an additional typical
example may be cited from the mythology of the Tsimshian.
During a famine in the village the young chief takes his slaves out and gets food
for them; a slave child chokes on the food which his mother has secretly brought
back to him; the chief's uncle discovers the food; the slave tells the uncle of the
young chief's extraordinary powers (IS 298).
10. War between Land and Water People
He who can break an elk antler is to have the chief's daughter in marriage
Salmon is successful
War between the Land and Water People
Wolves steal woman from Salmon
Rattlesnake traps Salmon who escapes
Salmon burns Rattlesnake's house in revenge
Meadowlark helps Salmon
Salmon kills four Wolves ; youngest Wolf escapes
Two chiefs, Reserved and Quiet, go hunting
Reserved kills Wolf
A chief had a daughter. He took an elk antler and said, "If any of
you can break this he may have my daughter in marriage." Coyote said,
"My firstborn will be the one to break it." Grizzly Bear said, "I will be
the first to break it." "Rrrr," he growled as he tried it. No, he did not
succeed. All tried. The Water animals tried but they failed. Then the
chief said, "Come again tomorrow and try." All came, but had no suc-
cess. Salmon was not there. Once more the chief summoned them and
this time Salmon came. They all tried in vain. Then someone said to
Salmon, "You try it."
He took it and dropped oil in the curve of the horn. It nearly broke.
The next oldest Salmon and the next tried. The youngest broke it. It
crumpled in pieces. The youngest Salmon took the woman by the arm
and ran. Then the Water People and the Land People began to fight.
Salmon was headed off because he took the woman. The three brothers
were killed. The oldest had the woman under his arm. Just as he reached
the water the Wolves caught the woman. They were pierced by the ar-
rows of the Water People — Turtle, Frog and Snake. The Land Ani-
mals— Bluejay, a scolding bird, and one with a white head — were brave
and fierce.
Frog said, "You can't spear me. Even if you should shoot ahead of
me in the water I do not think you could get me." The Land Animals
however were very fierce and pierced him through. Snake said, "If you
shoot often at the side of me you might be able to get me."
120 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
He was shot in many places and died. Salmon who was wounded in
many places when he jumped into the water was just barely conscious.
Then they "phoned" upriver to Rattlesnake to make a weir. After he
finished it he kept watch. Once as he looked at it he saw Salmon swim-
ming in the trap. He shot him in the head. Ever since there has been
an arrowpoint on Salmon's head. Rattlesnake took Salmon and clasped
him to his chest but he slipped away into the water. Then it was useless
to try again to get him. So he "phoned" downriver to Mink and Mouse
to search in a canoe. For two days they searched and found only bones.
They brought them home. They made torches of pitch and put them in
the canoe. The canoe was tipped over. Mouse stole fish-grease, rubbed
Salmon, stepped over him and he became alive.
For two weeks Salmon stayed there. Then he went upriver to take
revenge on Rattlesnake. When he came to Rattlesnake's house he heard
him dancing the war dance, but when he went in Rattlesnake pretended
to be crying. "I have been mourning ever since I heard you were gone,"
he said. Salmon said, "You are wasting your tears. I wish to have a
spark so I can melt pitch to mend my canoe." "All right take one."
Salmon took the spark and burned Rattlesnake's house which was
made of grass. He died screaming in the flames. Salmon knew where the
woman had been taken. He went ashore there. He wandered at random
crying about his tribe. Suddenly he saw a nice little stick. He stepped on
it, "dnininin, you broke my leg." (It was Meadowlark who spoke in
Spokan.) "Oh I'm sorry, you put it across the road right in my way."
He restored Meadowlark's leg and she went with him to Wolf's house.
There was another Meadowlark at Wolf's house ("He must have turned
against his kind," said the interpreter). He killed this Meadowlark and
the real one sat in her place. The woman was tied with a ball and chain.
The Wolves were gone. Salmon went to the roof of the house and waited
with his sword ready.
Soon Wolf's song was heard, "max, max, that which slid on the roof
of the house stinks; it must be Salmon." (This was spoken in Spokan.)
The Meadowlark went out and said, "Come, the woman you stole is
hungry." Four times Wolf came up to the door and jumped back. The
fourth time Salmon raised his sword and cut Wolf in two. Mouse,
Louse and another pest which the Coeur d'Alene used to have (perhaps
flea) licked his blood. Then all died except the youngest Wolf. His arm
was struck but only half of his body was injured. Salmon and Meadow-
lark came back. Salmon brought back the woman. Because Wolf was
a man-eater the people were afraid of him. They had a council. There
were two chiefs who were pleasant, even jolly, but who did not talk
much. One was called Reserved and the other Quiet. They said, "At
The Myths and Tales 121
night we will go hunting. You shout and say, 'Reserved is gone, Quiet is
gone.' "
The two chiefs went away. Wolf heard the people shout, "The chiefs
are gone." Wolf knew the chiefs were fat (he could tell by their
names!). He tracked them to the edge of a cliff where they had shot
an elk and were eating. Quiet saw Wolf crawling up. He said, "Get
out your weapon." Reserved stopped eating, he was not afraid but his
companion was. Wolf was just about to strike but Quiet said, "Take
your weapon in hand." "Keep on eating and be quiet," the other or-
dered. He watched Wolf who came closer and closer. Just as he was
about to strike Reserved growled and struck first. Wolf fell over the
cliff. Since that time Wolves are small and they are no longer man-
eaters. That is the end.
Closely allied myths with but minor variations in detail occur in the
mythology of the Chinook, Sanpoil, Nez Perce, Upper Chehalis, Thomp-
son and Quinault.
A chief's daughter is to be given to the one who breaks a pair of elk antlers ;
Salmon succeeds ; Coyote shoots Salmon with a magic arrow ; the five Wolves steal
the woman; the people eat the salmon; Crow nurses a salmon egg into a salmon;
Salmon names Coyote and Badger and burns their house; in disguise he makes
flint arrowheads for the wolves, keeping five for himself ; he shoots each wolf while
drinking at the well; he burns the house and leaves with the woman {Chinook
BBAE 20:77).
Salmon helps Spider catch salmon; Salmon twists four pieces of elk horn to win
the chief's daughter ; Rattlesnake uses his fang as an arrowhead to hit Salmon
(Salmon dies; Rattlesnake declares him a common salmon) ; floating off in his
canoe, Salmon throws his wife ashore for talking too much; Wolf and his brother
carry her off; Salmon returns in the spring; Spider advises him; Salmon avenges
himself upon Whitefish and Rattlesnake; Whitefish is to be speared by people,
Rattlesnake is not to kill from a distance; Salmon's wife gives him a flint knife;
Salmon kills the two Wolves at the spring; Salmon returns to his wife each sum-
mer (Sanpoil JAFL 46:143).
Salmon catches a glimpse of a girl in the menstruation hut; she goes away with
him; Rattlesnake and Spider refuse to help the wolves obtain the girl; Stubby
Rattlesnake bites Salmon to death and the wolves mash him; when some of his
blood splashes into the water, Salmon revives ; the wolves carry off the girl ; Sal-
mon sends fish to Old Man Spider who is kind to him; he drives the fish away
from an unkind man; Meadowlark gives Salmon advice; Salmon spares Rattle-
snake's life in return for his set of teeth and information about the wolves ; the girl
hides Salmon at the wolves' place ; Salmon kills four wolves, the youngest escapes ;
the girl turns into a salmon (Nez Perce CUCA 25:222).
122 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Spring Salmon throws a princess in a wrestling match, after Wolf, Cougar, Bear,
Wildcat, Hawk, Owl, Eagle and Dark Eagle have failed; Wolf kills Spring Sal-
mon ; an egg from the body grows into Spring Salmon again ; Spring Salmon kills
the Skunks for making fun of him ; he makes arrowheads for the five Wolves,
keeping five for himself; he shoots four of the Wolves, the youngest escapes; thus
there are wolves today ; Spring Salmon dies in his canoe while returning home with
his wife (Upper Chehalis MAFLS 27:110).
Humpback Salmon steals a girl from the Lytton people for a wife ; the Animals
steal Humpback Salmon's wife from the Fish people ; the Fishes make war upon
the Animals and are vanquished ; Dog Salmon escapes and never leaves the lower
country; Humpback Salmon's son attacks the Animals, and takes his mother back
home (Thompson MAM 12:231).
Five Wolves kill the man who is strong enough to break an elk horn and carry
off his wife ; the man revives and pursues them ; he stays in the Wolves' house
disguised as his wife's father ; he kills each Wolf in turn at the spring ; he takes
his wife back home (Quinault MAM 4:120).
The above six versions correspond closely to the Coeur d'Alene myth
with the exception of the final extermination of the last wolf by the
chiefs, Reserved and Quiet. In the Nez Perce and Upper Chehalis
myths, in which Salmon fails to kill all the wolves, no pursuit is made
of the escaping youngest wolf ; according to the Upper Chehalis, in fact,
it is because of this that there are wolves today.
11. Dog Husband
Girl gets husband secretly
Girl's older sister taunts her about his looks
Ugly husband catches ermine
Is transformed into a handsome man
Girl's older sister abuses dogs, her sister's husband's kin
She is left alone with dogs
Dogs become men with suits trimmed in broken beads
Girl deserted with her two dog children
She goes for food, see tracks of dog and baby
Spies on her dog children and finds one is dog, the other little girl who abuses dog
Mother defends dog and lives with daughter and dog son
Two sisters lived together. The elder was the wife of Eagle who was
the chief of the village. The younger girl got a husband. Her sister
heard that she had a husband. She thought, "I'll go see my brother-in-
law." She went there and saw her sister sitting with an ugly man. She
said to her, "Why did you choose such a homely man ? There are plenty
of good-looking ones." He was very old. He was blind. He could not see
the people, the Lynxes, Fishers or anyone. The younger sister said,
The Myths and Tales 123
"Shut up! Go back to your old eagle. Actually he has a long crooked
nose. That's the kind you chose for your husband." The older girl went
home.
Across the river an ermine was seen on a bush. Coyote shouted, "Go
set a trap for ermine." All the people went and set traps and watched
them but ermine ran right through their traps without getting caught.
The people came back. Then the younger sister led her husband out to
try trapping. When they were seen someone remarked, "If even those
handsome fellows can't catch ermine, how can an old blind man expect
to succeed." They said nothing. They went past the place where the
other traps were set. He set one and his wife led him back home, but
they had only gone as far as the open country where ermine was caught
biting at the trap.
Coyote cried out, "What does that old duffer think he is going to do ?"
The people ran out to take the ermine. The wife said, "Leave it alone.
He is going to use it for his eyes." They gave it to her. The next day
the older sister said to her, "What are you going to use that for, that
which you took from those boys ?" The younger sister paid no attention
to her. She went in. Night came. Morning came. The older sister
thought, "I'll go and reason with my sister."
She went into her house, but saw her sitting by a handsome man. She
did not say a word. The wife was combing his hair and fixing it nice.
Her sister said, "You're hurting him, let me comb him." She came up
closer to the man. She kept edging closer and closer and said, "Give me
that comb. I'll comb him myself." Her sister hit her hands with the
comb. "Go to your eagle ! Fix his hair if you want a man." But no, she
sat still. Again she was told, "Go back to your eagle." She went back.
Soon she came again. At night they slept. The wife said to her husband,
"Come let's go back to your people."
They came to the home of the old men's relatives. The older sister
found out that they were all dogs. She saw her sister sitting in the house
with dogs all around her. The younger sister told the elder not to come
near but to sit far away from them. But no ! she wanted to sit close to
them. At night they ate some kind of meat. All ate, the younger sister,
her husband and all the dogs. Eagle's wife alone did not eat it. Her sister
said, "Eat!" "Why should I eat like a dog?"
A dog lay down beside her. She hit it. "Stop that!" warned her
younger sister, but she did not listen to her. At night the dogs, which
were all spotted, went to sleep. Eagle's wife sat up and kept hold of a
stick with which she hit the dogs. "Lie down and go to sleep !" her sister
told her. At last she went to sleep. The woman and her husband left
her. When she woke she was crowded upon by dogs. She jumped up
124 • An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
and hit them. They ran off. The younger sister was gone. Eagle's wife
did not know where to go. She cried. She stayed. At night she slept
again and the spotted dogs all came back. She hit at them with a stick
but they crowded her.
When she woke she heard something which sounded like people talk-
ing. They were not far off. They were laughing. "My clothes are all
worn out because I was beaten. The beads are all broken and lost/' said
one. Another said, "My necklace is worn because I was beaten so."
They laughed again. A third said, "My bracelet is in shreds. She beat
me up terribly." "My earrings are ruined," said another and they
laughed again.
Suddenly they were gone. The girl got up and looked. She saw they
had a fire and men were standing around it. All their clothes, their moc-
casins and trousers were embroidered in beads. She went in and thought,
"They are people. I will not beat them anymore."
She lay down. They went into the sweathouse. By daybreak all was
quiet. She thought, "I'll go see." Where the men had been standing
there were only broken white beads.1 She went back in and cried. The
dogs were gone; they were people. She stayed there alone and cried.
After some time she gave birth to children. They were dogs. She
thought, "I won't leave them, I'll take care of them." She covered them
and warmed them.
In the morning she would go out, travel about and come back. She
would feed them and go out again. Once when she went to the fireplace
she saw the tracks of little people with those of the puppies. She thought,
"Someone must have been here who had a baby."
The next day she went out again. When she came back she saw the
baby tracks with those of the dog and thought, "Why did that person
come with its dog?" She looked at her own pups and saw they were all
right. At last she decided to spy on them. She went into a corner and
covered herself with a blanket leaving only a hole just big enough for
eyes. There she kept watch. She heard her dogs say, "It's about time for
us to play." One, a little girl, said, "I'll see where our mother is." She
went out. Soon she came back and said, "It's all right. She's gone."
The mother saw her lead a little dog around the fire by a rope which
was fastened around his neck. She said to him in her language, "tcinu-
ninu'nununi" and he answered in his language, "tcitcitcinunu." She hit
him. As they were running she said it again and he answered. She hit
him again. Then their mother jumped up. She took hold of the girl and
said, "Stop!" She answered, "No, I'm very lonesome. I'm trying to
*The spots on the dogs were beads.
, The Myths and Tales 125
teach him to be a little person too." "No ! It will be all right this way.
He will be our dog, but we will be kind to him." Then the mother lived
with her daughter who was a person and her son who was a dog. That
is all that I know !
The end of the trail.
The Coeur d'Alene setting for the widely distributed Dog Husband
narrative was not found duplicated in the territory covered by this anal-
ysis. The Coeur d'Alene combine a Deformed Transformed episode
with the Dog Husband one and use the former as the background for
the latter, which further does not terminate in any decisive ending as in
the Dog Husband stories of other tribes.
Comparable parallels to the acceptance of an ugly husband who forth-
with demonstrates great power and becomes transformed in due course
into a handsome man to the jealousy of all the people are found in the
form of distinct myths with no association with Dog Husband episodes
in the mythology of the Thompson, Sahaptin, Okanagon and Chilcotin
tribes. The Thompson and Chilcotin also have independent Dog Hus-
band stories.
A woman marries Tsa'au'z, who is dressed in a garment of sores; the people
taunt her and him ; at night he puts on clothes covered with dentalia, which drop off
making his parents-in-law rich ; he kicks down four trees and supplies all the houses
with wood; he is successful on the hunt and carries home in his gloves meat which
fills the houses ; his brothers-in-law fail to destroy his garment of sores by burning
it; the garment turns into fog (his wife burns up his sore skin) ; he returns home
handsome {Thompson MAM 12:267, 373; MAFLS 11:29).
In the Sahaptin version the Coeur d'Alene element of the disagree-
ment between the sisters about the younger's husband is met with:
Walaetitsa, ugly and dirty, wins the shooting contest in which Eagle's two daugh-
ters are at stake; the younger girl goes with Walaetitsa, the elder goes to Raven;
the elder girl taunts the younger ; Walaetitsa becomes clean and handsome and the
most successful hunter; Raven is vanquished (MAFLS 11:159).
Sun, disguised as a dirty boy, comes to earth, accompanied by his sister, Star,
who masquerades as a feeble old woman, in order to win a chief's two daughters;
Dirty Boy wins a shooting and a hunting contest ; the chief's younger daughter
waits upon him; Sun and Star resume their beautiful forms; Sun supplies the
starving tribe with much food from the hunt {Okanagon MAFLS 11 :85).
In each of the above versions emphasis is placed upon the scorn with
which the deformed youth and his wife are regarded and the great
powers which he in turn reveals, as well as upon the faithfulness of his
126 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
wife, who is ultimately rewarded by having the most handsome husband.
In the Chile otin version, on the other hand, the ugly, weak boy pulled
out of the water makes his way alone and marries the two sisters who
rescue him only after Raven has destroyed his slime shirt. In his un-
sightly disguise he locates wood and supplies snowshoes for the tribe
and kills many caribou when the other hunters return empty-handed
(MAM 4:37).
The Dog Husband episode in its wide distribution usually appears in
a highly uniform, well-defined form; the Coeur d'Alene treatment fits
into this general grouping, although it shows more deviation than usual.
The general outline for the story everywhere includes : A girl who re-
fuses suitors is impregnated by her own or her father's dog and gives
birth to pups. The people desert the girl. The mother discovers the
pups are human children and burns their dog-skins. The boys become
great hunters. The starving tribe returns. (The desertion episode fol-
lows the pattern of the Coeur d'Alene desertion in the "Story of Lynx,"
tale 9, with its stylistic elements of reward for those who help the de-
serted ones and punishment for those who recommend the desertion and
show cruelty.) There follows a list of the tribes which tell the Dog Hus-
band story; only significant major variations have been specially noted:
Quileute— eight dog children (CUCA 12:131, 137).
Thompson — four dog children or three male pups, one female; the female pup
escapes the medicine thrown at it and remains a dog (MAFLS 6 :62 ; MAM 12 :354 ;
MAFLS 11:30).
Lower Fraser River — eleven pups, five male, six female; one black and white
female remains a dog; the dog husband who was beaten almost to death is healed
and returns to his wife as a great hunter (MAFLS 11:130; six dog children
(IS 25).
Kathlantet — a girl sleeps with her bitch ; the people kill it and feed her its fat ;
she begets five male pups, one female (BBAE 26:156).
Tlingit — a woman's husband kills all her children ; the woman has a litter of pups
by her dog in revenge ; the four male pup-skins are burned and they become power-
ful shamans; the female remains a dog (BBAE 39:100).
Quinault — four male pups, one female (MAM 4:127).
Chile otin — three pups ; their mother burns their blankets, but their dog father
escapes with one-half of his and remains half man, half dog (MAM 4:8).
Ts'ets'a'ut — two male dog children, one female; the girl snatches her dog-skin
from the fire and remains a dog (JAFL 10:37).
The Myths and Tales 127
Haida — nine male pups, one female (MAM 8:191).
Nootka — ten dog children; when the people attempt to return to their former
home, the ten boys produce a big wind and the people drown; they become islands
(IS 114).
Bella Coola — four male dog children, one female; the female remains a dog; in
a storm all the returning people except the kind grandmother are drowned (all the
people except the woman's parents, brothers and sisters are permitted to return)
(IS 264-5).
Yookilta — two of the ten boys slip back into their dog-skins and remain dogs ; the
death-bringer is waved at the returning tribe and, with the exception of the girl's
grandmother who had provided her with coals and food, the people turn into stone
(IS 132).
Upper Chehalis — four male pups, one female (MAFLS 27:96, 98) ; five male, one
female (MAFLS 27:99, 103).
Humptulip — two female pups, three male; when the five pups become people,
their mother declares they shall be a disgrace to their tribe ; she beats the old dog,
her husband, and leaves with the two girls (MAFLS 27:328).
Rivers Inlet — the woman marries a bear and has four bear children, two male
and two female ; she takes off the bear skins of all but the youngest daughter, who
goes away into the woods ; the mother and her three children return to her people ;
she rejuvenates her parents and all the old people and distributes much food and
skins (IS 227).
Comox — the rejected suitor chews tar and gives the girl a piece to swallow;
seven dogs, one female; the girl child snatches her dog coat out of the fire in time
to save one corner of it; her left hand remains a dog's paw (IS 93).
The Coeur d'Alene element of the abuse of the dog child by the human
child is encountered in additional myths of the Thompson and Shuswap :
A girl, impregnated by her father's dog, has a male and a female pup ; the people
are ashamed and leave her; she throws medicine on the pups, striking only the boy;
the girl gets into her dog-skin and remains a dog ; the mother instructs her son not
to beat the dog; the boy disobeys; the dog turns into a golden plover and flies
away {Thompson MAM 12:354).
The children of Fish and Frog visit their grandmother, Grizzly Bear; Grizzly
Bear throws medicine at them; the boy takes human form; the girl, barely
sprinkled by the herb liquid, becomes a small female dog ; the boy thrashes the dog
for eating his game; the dog runs away into the mountains (the dog assumes
human, fish-bear or chickadee form and runs away to the sky) (Shuswap MAM
4:693; Thompson MAM 12:356).
128 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
The discrepancy between the above Dog Husband versions and the
Coeur d'Alene account, all of which have some element of desertion
and transformation in common, lies in the abrupt, unorientated conclu-
sion of the Coeur d'Alene myth.
A Wasco myth which does not fit into the typical Dog Husband out-
line, is abstracted below in conclusion to show its use of the Coeur
d'Alene feature of the family of dog-folk.
A woman follows a dog who has stolen her paint; the woman spends the night
in a house occupied by dogs; the dogs become men who complain of the woman's
slaps ; the woman's dog-man guide marries her ; accompanied by her husband and
her child, she visits her parents ; she looks at other men ; her husband leaves her
(PAES 2:253).
12. Coyote and Fox Gamble with the Fish
Coyote teasingly invites Fish to be his guests
Fish arrive, gamble and win
Fish invite Coyote and Fox to gamble in water
Coyote accuses Fox of cheating
Coyote and Fox win and return home
Coyote and his friend, Fox, had a house. Coyote had a daughter.
Every day the men went to catch pheasants. They always brought many
home. One night after eating Coyote went down to the water. As he sat
idly on the bank he saw fish deep in the water. "We ought to be doing
something to pass the time. Tell your elders to visit us." The little fish
apparently paid no attention to him. "Do you hear? I am talking to you."
They said nothing. Coyote went home.
Not long after as he and Fox were sitting quietly at home they heard
a sound as of many people approaching. Fox saw ten boats full of
people rise to the surface of the water. The little fish had said, "Here,
you people ! Coyote told us to invite you to come." The grownups an-
swered, "Ah !" Fox went back and announced to Coyote, "Lots of
people have come. They say you invited them." "Oh goodness !" replied
Coyote, "I was only joking."
The people all came in. The place was crowded. Fish's little boy said.
"You said we should come to pass the time. That's why we are here."
"Let's have a stickgame." "We have nothing to bet." "You have lots of
pheasant tails." Coyote said, "No, they are too high-priced." "Is that
too high for you to bet?" "How much do you bet?" "The stripe on the
feather will be the stake for each game."1 "All right !"
1 The text here is obscure. The informant did not know the details of gambling
and these are technical terms.
The Myths and Tales 129
Coyote kept count. They laid out a blanket and a shirt. They played.
Coyote and Fox lost. They played again. Again they lost. Then the Fish
said, "We must go back. We belong in the water. We are getting too dry.
Let us have some contests at our home under the water." "All right !"
said Coyote and Fox.
They went back to the water. About two days later Coyote and his
daughter got into a boat. "I'll be the first," said Coyote. "No, I want to
be first," said his daughter.1 Four times the boat with its contents
was to go down and come up again. They dived. Coyote nearly died
until it came up again. He opened his mouth to complain, but before he
could get his breath they had dived again. Each time he was nearly dead.
After they dived the fourth time they came to the land below, the
water where the fish lived. There was a very long house there. One of
the fish announced, "Coyote has come." They landed. They went in and
played the stickgame. Coyote sang out, "He's cheating my friend, Fox,"
"Be quiet," said his daughter. "It can't be helped. You can't depend on
what those animals say."
This time Coyote and Fox won, Fish lost. Then Fish said, "We'll
play again, but we want something better to bet. Let's not bet those
pheasant tails. Put them away." They laid other things down. Coyote
and Fox won again. Then said Coyote, "Let's quit."
They went back to their boat and Coyote and his daughter argued
again as to who should get in first. He said, "I'm going to dive first."
"No, I'm going to," said his daughter. "First place belongs to me.
The fish will make fun of you." "No, it belongs to me." She sat first
in the canoe. Each time Coyote came up gasping. They came to their
house.
Thus it comes to the end of the road.
Among the large number of gambling myths, in which the loser wins
back all he has lost, there is one example in Kutenai mythology of a
gambling match between Coyote and Fox on the one side and Salmon
on the other. It is a continuation of the Kutenai Coyote-Fox story
of the animals who stole the hoop (cp. this work tale 3).
Coyote and young Fox lose everything gambling with the Salmon who wish to
obtain Coyote's hoop ; Fox and young Coyote win everything back and in addition
Salmon's younger sister who becomes young Coyote's wife (BBAE 59:151). (The
story continues at this point with episodes correlating with those of the Coeur
d'Alene Water Monster Woman myth, 27.)
xThey argued this way because the first in the boat was the first to dive. Coyote
always dived flat, then accused the others of holding him back. Consequently his
daughter wanted to be first. Since they could not agree, the boat with all its con-
tents dived at once.
130 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
13. Coyote Marries Squirrel, Sister of Geese
Squirrel feeds Coyote
Squirrel provides Coyote with teeth
Coyote marries Squirrel
Coyote accompanies four Geese, his brothers-in-law, on hunt
Coyote breaks calling taboo and is dropped by Geese
Squirrel kills three brothers by pointing Coyote's tail at them
Brothers revive, pursue and kill sister
As Coyote was traveling he saw a house and went in. A woman was
sitting there. After he had been there a little while she got up and
cooked meat. He had a large supply. She gave him some but he could
not chew it. He had no teeth. "I'll put it away and eat it later," he said,
"I'm too tired now." He lay down and went to sleep, "xwu xwu," he
slept well. He had his mouth open. The woman saw he had no teeth.
"That's why he didn't eat," she thought.
She hunted the smallest deer teeth she could find and put them into
his mouth. He woke up and it felt as if he had teeth. He got up. "Now
I'm ready to eat," he announced. He was now able to eat all of the
food left over from his meal. At night a man came in, "Oh, my brother-
in-law, here you are," he said in greeting. "Yes," said Coyote who was
sitting on the eldest brother's mat. He then moved over to the mat of
the next oldest. Soon another came in and Coyote moved over onto the
next bed. A third time the same thing happened. As the fourth was
saying, "My brother-in . . ." the others grabbed him and corrected,
"Just like my brother-in-law."
By this time Coyote was pushed up against the woman and thus got
a wife, the sister of the men. The men went out every morning and
brought back much meat at night. For four days they left Coyote and
the woman while they went hunting. The fifth morning Coyote dressed
himself to go out and said, "I'm going with you." "No, no, we don't
travel by land. You can't go the way we do." The men were geese.
"Oh !" said Coyote. The next day however Coyote insisted upon going
along. "You'll get in our way," the brothers told him. "I'm going any-
way." They came to a big lake. "Here's where we cross. You will have
to hang on to us." They flew way up. Then Coyote imitated their call,
u' u' u'. "Be quiet !" they told him.
They alighted. They hunted. They told Coyote, "You must never
take more than two deer. Otherwise it will be too heavy." Coyote got
two deer and each of the geese got two. Altogether they had ten. As
they were flying over the water again Coyote said, 'V u' !" They told
him to stop, but he kept right on. Then they let go of him. He fell.
The Myths and Tales 131
When they got home their sister was lying down. "Why didn't you
cook our supper?" they asked. As she did not move or pay any atten-
tion they cooked for themselves. The next day the three brothers went
hunting, but the youngest stayed home. His sister drew in her mouth
with a sucking noise, "Listen!" she said, "Don't look around when I
come back. I am going out."
She went to the shore of the lake and searched for Coyote. She saw
him floating on the water. She cut him around the nose and down the
middle as far as the tail, then she cut the tail right off. She took Coyote's
skin along home with her. As she opened the door three of the brothers
looked around at her. She made a circular motion with Coyote's tail
and they fell dead. Only the youngest was left because he had not
looked at her.
He sat there. The sister ran off. After a while the three came to life.
"We will kill our sister," they declared. "She must like Coyote."
They took their arrows and tracked her. When they got to the water
they lost the trail. "I'm tired," said one and they made camp. They
heard a squirrel talking. "Kill him," said the youngest, "so we have
something to eat." The squirrel was their sister. Way up in the tree
she was standing. "Stop your talking now or we will kill you." Each
one went out and warned her, but came back and told the others he
had not seen her. Then one said, "They must be lying." So two of them
went and saw her. They shot her.
The end of the road.
Parallels to the Coeur d'Alene myth are found for the Sahaptin
(MAFLS 11 :145) and the Nez Perce (JAFL 21 :149; CUCA 25 :331).
In these two tribes the sister is not identified with Squirrel, there are
five Geese brothers instead of four, and the girl dies when her two
surviving younger brothers shoot her in the little finger where she has
placed her heart. In all other major particulars however the myths are
comparable with the Coeur d'Alene version.
A Kutenai myth starts with the usual story of the Geese and Coyote,
but terminates in a Coyote-Trout episode.
Coyote is hungry and enters a tipi; he moves nearer and nearer to the woman
occupant, as each of her Goose brothers comes in ; he marries the Goose girl ; the
fourth day he accompanies his brothers-in-law on the hunt; on their return the
Goose brother carrying him jerks him off in alarm when the people start shooting
at the Geese; Coyote sinks to the bottom of the river and enters Trout's tipi; he
marries Trout, imitates the Trout children at stealing bait off the people's hooks,
is caught by Fox and changes back into a Coyote (Dyer ms.).
132 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
In a shorter Haida myth the Geese tire of carrying their brother-in-law, Raven,
and drop him over the sea; Raven sprinkles sand, lands on Rose Spit, recuperates
and travels on (MAM 8:236).
14. Coyote Imitates Magpie {Bungling Host)
Coyote lives near Magpie
Coyote's powers become winter berries
Berries disappear
Magpie dives for fish
Coyote imitates Magpie, drowns
Coyote was living near Magpie who had many children. Coyote him-
self had five. In the winter they were starving. There was just enough
camas left for the children. Coyote went out and consulted his powers.
One of them said, "I'm hungry too. I'll be serviceberries, there will be
a lot." Coyote went in and said, "Go get the camas. We ought to eat.
Then the sack will be absolutely empty."
When he said this his family looked out and saw many service-
berries. Mole, Coyote's wife, shared the camas with Coyote and her
own children, as well as with Magpie, his wife and their children.
Then there was nothing left.
The next morning all went before breakfast to gather serviceberries.
They saw many, but each time there was a good patch Coyote said,
"No, don't pick them yet, there will be much better ones." Finally he
said, "Now pick here." But there were no berries. Coyote had done
this to fool them by means of his powers.
Then Mole and Mrs. Magpie became angry. Coyote only laughed
at them. "You are crazy. You should know we never have berries in
winter," he told them.
They went home. Magpie went off alone. At night he came back
with something tied up in his blaanket. Coyote said, "What have you
there?" He did not answer. He told one of the children to get water.
They cooked what was in the blanket and ate. They gave Coyote none.
He said, "At least you could give us some broth to drink. How did you
get it anyway?"
Magpie said, "I made a hole in the ice, then another not far away.
I dived into one with a fishnet and came out the other with my net full
of small fish."
Coyote said, "I will try it too." He made two holes, took a net and
dived. He came up with a few very small fish in the net. He wanted
more and dived again. He could not find the hole to come up out of.
He drowned. The next day Mole looked for him. She saw where
The Myths and Tales 133
he had dived. She saw the little catch he had made. Farther on she
saw the other hole. "He must have dived and did not come up again,"
she said.
So the road ends.
The winter berries theme occurs in Shuswap, Thompson and Nootka
mythology :
Coyote produces winter salmon and winterberries ; Grizzly Bear Woman eats up
her stores of provisions with him; Coyote makes winter again; Grizzly Woman
starves (Shuswap MAM 4:631; Thompson MAM 12:312; MAFLS 6:28).
In the Nootka myth Tlehmamit's wife is able to provide an inexhaustible quantity
of berries in winter for her husband's guests (IS 103).
The Bungling Host episode, the imitation of the dive for fish, has a
widespread distribution, although not in connection with the winter-
berries episode as in the Coeur d'Alene myth.
Coyote unsuccessfully imitates Kingfisher in myths of the Sanpoil
(JAFL 46:177), Thompson (MAFLS 6:41; MAFLS 11:6; MAM
12:206, 301), Sahaptin (MAFLS 6:165), Kutenai (BBAE 59:9),
Shuswap (MAM 11:628) and Columbia River tribes (Idaho Farmer,
Sept. 18, 1930).
Coyote imitates Fishhawk in Sahaptin (MAFLS 11 :165), Nez Perce
(MAFLS 11:183) and Wasco (PAES 2:270) mythology.
Elsewhere in Sahaptin lore (MAFLS 11:167) Coyote imitates Bea-
ver; in a Nez Perce myth (MAFLS 11 :183), Otter; and in a Shuswap
myth, Kingfisher, Fishhawk and Bald-headed Eagle (MAM 4:739).
A Quinault story relates that Bluejay's children are almost drowned
when Blue jay has them imitate the children of Sawbill Duck, Land
Otter and Kingfisher (MAM 4:86, 88, 89). In a Chinook myth Blue-
jay all but drowns his sister's children as a result of his command
that they imitate Duck (BBAE 20:179).
In Coast Salish mythology Coyote imitates Fish Duck, Bluejay imi-
tates Fish Duck, Bluejay's children imitate Fish Duck's children, Blue-
jay's children dive for trout for Bear (MAFLS 27:249, 344, 5, 349).
Raven is almost fatally unsuccessful in imitating Water Ousel in a
Southern Puget Sound myth (UWPA 3:39), and in a Quileute myth
(CUCA 12:39, 109) Raven and his wife fail in attempting to dive like
Fish Duck and his wife (CUCA 12 :39, 109).
Mink has to be rescued when he imitates his wife, Eagle, or Hawk
(Lower Fraser River IS 44; Comox CUCA 2:71; Kwakiutl CUCA
2:155). O'mal has the same experience when he imitates Kingfisher
(Newettee CUCA 2 :239 ; IS 177) .
134 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
A distribution list of Kingfisher's diving may be found in ARBAE
31 :699.
References to additional Bungling Host episodes connected with water
among the Osage, Shoshoni, Zuni, Wishosk and Yana may be found in
BBAE 59 :294.
15. Coyote and Badger
Badger and Coyote families live together
Coyote kills Badger
Mrs. Badger packs up and leaves with her children
Youngest Coyote goes along carrying Coyote's favorite bucket
Coyote follows
Mrs. Badger throws back two nits which become two little girls
Coyote forgets his chase watching the girls play
Girls become stars
Badger and Coyote lived together. Coyote had five children. I don't
know how many Badger had, but he had many. As Coyote was wander-
ing aimlessly along suddenly he thought, "I am going to kill Badger
because he is fat." He killed him. When Badger's wife learned of it she
was sad and said, "We'll leave here."
They got everything ready, blankets and food. They put the bucket in
a sack. They packed everything. Mrs. Badger told the youngest Coyote
to carry the bucket. Thus she kidnapped the youngest Coyote. They had
gone a long way before Coyote found it out.
"I'm going to track them." He said to Mole, his wife, "Why didn't
you stop our youngest?" "How did I know it?" she asked. He said, "I
am going to beat them if I ever catch up with them." He went. Far he
went. As far as he could see they went ahead. He called out, "You are
going to die. I am going to beat you ! Turn back !"
They did not look back. He nearly caught up. He cried, "Throw down
that bucket. When she said to you, 'Take it !' you knew it was the one I
like best, that is the one she took from me. You are going to die."
He came close. The mother picked two nits from her hair. She threw
them back. They became two little girls, tiny beings they were. They
held each other's hands. They played and slapped each other. One licked
her hands and slapped the other. Coyote laughed. "Go on, slap her
back !" he urged.
He forgot his chase watching them and laughing at them. He laughed
until his eyes became red. The children made a noise and went up to
the sky where they are now stars.
The Myths and Tales 135
The only close parallel found was a Columbia River myth :
Coyote kills his neighbor, Badger, for food ; Mrs. Badger kills his wife and three
sons; she takes her children and the youngest Coyote and lights a fire; its smoke
carries them to the sky; they become stars; Coyote is left alone (Idaho Farmer,
Sept. 18, 1930).
Myths of other tribes are analogous in so far as the actual deed of
killing a neighbor, relative or close friend is concerned, iut with this
any comparison abruptly ends.
16. Calling the Deer
Coyote lies starving
Parts of deer appear, Coyote wishes for more
Coyote discovers Woodtick and taunts her
Coyote visits Woodtick
Woodtick sets places for two, but does not invite Coyote to eat
Woodtick and Coyote live together
Woodtick calls deer
Coyote kills Woodtick
Coyote calls deer
Deer come, but run away ; all the meat runs away in the form of deer
Woodtick settles in another home and has all the deer
Coyote starves at Woodtick's old home
Coyote had a house. He was starving. He lay warming his back at the
fire. "I wonder what I will have to eat." For many days he had not eaten.
Suddenly he smelled something. "My blanket must be burning." He felt
around for what was burning. He saw half a deer foot lying there by
the fire. He wondered why it was only a half, why the whole thing was
not there. He chewed on it and ate it all. He lay down again. The next
morning as he lay there the same thing happened, but this time a whole
foot was there. "Thank you !" said Coyote. He chewed it all up, even
the bones.
The next day a whole shoulder lay there. He got water and cooked it,
served it and ate it all. He even drank the broth. Nothing was left.
"Thank you, I've had plenty," he said.
The next morning he heard something fall. There lay the half of a
deer cut from neck to tail. This time he cooked half of the piece thinking
to save the next for the morrow. The next day he decided to find out
where the meat came from. He pulled a corner of his blanket over his
eyes. The other half of the deer fell down. He looked and saw Woodtick.
She said, "Don't look at me." Coyote said, "Oh, it's you who haven't
even a neck."
136 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
She went away. Coyote used up the deer and in a few days was hungry
again. Then he lay and listened for Woodtick. He got up and looked
around, but there was no sign of her. He thought, "I remember where
I saw her. I'll look there for her." He went off. He came to a house.
There sat a woman. She looked up and put her head down again. Coyote
sat down. He saw she was making sacks from grass. After a while she
put her work away. She got meat, cooked it and served it. She set the
table for two. Coyote sat there watching. She ate, but did not invite him.
When she had finished she took up her work again. He stayed all night.
The next morning she again set the table for two but ate alone. Then
Coyote got up, took meat, cooked it for himself. "You are not a real
person, you don't share your food," he said and ate alone. "I set the
table for two, but you didn't come and eat with me." "Did you say,
'Come eat?' No, you said nothing." "Did I not take pity on you a few
days ago? I fed you, but you didn't leave me alone so I left. I wanted
you for my husband, but you called me names, so I left." "Well, I came
here looking for you," said Coyote. "All right. You may stay."
After some days Woodtick said, "We'll have some fresh meat to eat.
You go into that corner and sit still." She called, "Deer come !" Soon
they heard, "xumumumu," the sound of deer running on the snow. They
ran into the house. Woodtick took the tongs and pierced a hole in the
ear of one, then of another. The rest ran out. She said to Coyote, "Skin
it!" He butchered it and they had fresh meat to eat.
The same thing happened again. Then Coyote thought, "I'll kill her,
then I'll be the one to call the deer." He took a stick and clubbed her
over the head. He laid her in a corner and covered her with a blanket.
After a time he thought he would like some fresh meat. He called the
deer and they came in. He chose the largest. As he pulled on its ear to
try to pierce it with the tongs he pierced his own ear. " Anininin, I
punched myself." The deer went out, but there was meat. When Coyote
went out to get water, Woodtick's spirit said in Spokan to the deer meat,
"Run away, deer ! Coyote has smoked eyes. Run away !" It kept re-
peating this in a voice which became weaker and weaker.
The dried meat hanging on a rock above the fire fell down. Coyote
hung it up again. It kept falling and just as Coyote hung it up it became
deer and ran out, xwau xwau, it sounded. Coyote stuffed some of the
meat in his quiver, but deer burst it and ran out. Soon it was all gone
because Woodtick had told the deer to run away. Only that which Coyote
was cooking was left. Just when it came to a boil it turned into a deer
and ran out. Then there was nothing but bones tied up in a sack. Coyote
thought, "I'll cook them and make some soup. I can drink that." But as
soon as it boiled the bones became deer and ran out. Then Coyote threw
Woodtick out. "It's your fault the meat is all gone."
The Myths and Tales 137
She went away. Far off she made a house. She called the deer. Soon,
xu p'u p'u p'u, they came in. She pierced the ears of two and had
plenty to eat.
Coyote sat and starved.
That is the end of the road.
Parallel myths appear in the mythology of the Sanpoil, Thompson and
Nez Perce:
Coyote lies starving, wishes for food, and receives that for which he wishes ; given
a tent near an old wizard who brings the food, Coyote kills him ; the old man revives
and resuscitates all the deer-bones; Coyote transforms him into a woodtick (San-
poil MAFLS 11:103).
Coyote visits Woodtick; he strikes rock eight times, instead of four, with Wood-
tick's staff, and the four deer which have come run away; all the meat runs away
as deer, Woodtick travelling along with it; Coyote is left starving (Thompson
MAM 12:206).
In a second Thompson version Coyote asks to live with Woodtick; the fourth
time he strikes more than once with her staff, gets much deer meat, and kills
Woodtick; Woodtick revives, instructs the deer meat to run away with him and
leaves Coyote to starve (MAM 12:211).
A third Thompson version uses the same method for calling animals : a man
strikes his magic staff on the ground and deer die; Coyote becomes the man's
servant and eats up his deer while he sleeps (MAM 12:312).
The food for which Coyote wishes is five times deposited at his door; the sixth
time Coyote discovers Deertick and insults him ; Coyote gets no more food (Nez
Perce MAFLS 11:184).
In a second version from the Nez Perce the calling of food element
and Coyote's greed are expanded into a story of two parts with more
expository detail, a myth of the Coyote-Fox cycle :
Coyote imitates his friend Fox and wishes for five bundles of food to fall ; Coyote
rushes out to see their benefactor who thereupon never returns; Coyote visits a
man, Deertick, who allows Fox and Coyote to help themselves to his food ; Coyote
kills Deertick to get all his food; the venison revives, Coyote is pitched about
(CUCA 25:301).
Additional Thompson, Kutenai, Shuswap and Sahaptin myths contain
similar examples of Coyote's greed:
Coyote strikes the staff he has obtained from Gobbler (cp. tale 2) on the ground
and obtains a dead deer ; he continues to strike until smothered by deer carcasses ;
the deer revive; Coyote loses the staff (Thompson MAFLS 6:30; MAM 12:300).
138 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Coyote imitates Panther's calling of the game, but shoots it all ; the animals
make war upon Coyote, but cannot kill him; when hit by a small stone, Coyote
turns into a plank and floats down the river1 (Kutenai BBAE 59:169).
A starving man obtains power from the Wolves and provides the people with
large quantities of game; Coyote steals the man's guardian spirits from his house;
the man goes away as a wolf ; all the meat in the camp runs away as deer ; the
people are left starving (Shuswap MAM 4:720).
By running ahead of a woman, Coyote deceives her into giving him meat four
times ; the fifth time she refuses and he kills her ; all the meat in Coyote's caches
disappears (Sahaptin MAFLS 11:154).
A man permits first Fox, then Coyote, to help themselves to meat; Coyote kills
the man for not cooking the meat for him ; everything runs out of the tent ; Coyote
is left starving and naked (Sahaptin MAFLS 11:170).
In Tlingit mythology a shaman has the power to destroy mountain sheep which
his uncle calls; when the shaman dies, all the dead animals run into their skins
(BBAE 39:270).
The power of calling animals is found in another story of the Kutenai
which is motivated by the necessity of securing- game for the starving
people, since Raven has hidden the buffalo :
Jack Rabbit and Hare steal the claws for calling the buffalo which are kept by
two old women ; they shake them and sing ; all the hoarded pemmican rolls out of
the women's house BBAE 59:217).
The calling of food is included as a Bungling Host episode in various
Plains and Basin myths (cp. ARBAE 31 :700).
This general story type with its many variations brings to mind an
allied group of myths in which dead salmon revive and return to the
sea. A typical example of the latter is drawn from the mythology of the
Newettee and from Rivers Inlet:
O'meatl scolds when some of the salmon hanging in his house catch in his hair;
his wife, a twin, taken from the grave, forthwith leaves accompanied by all the
salmon (IS 174, 209).
Coyote suffers a similar loss of salmon for his rash words in Shuswap
mythology (MAM 11:743).
1 The action continues into the story of the Salmon Release (cp. tale 8).
The Myths and Tales 139
17. Calling One's Kind
a. by Dorothy Nicodemus
1. Men impound game
2. Each calls his kind
3. Coyote calls Grizzly's kind
4. Bear burns Coyote
5. Fox revives Coyote
6. Coyote calls Hail, Thunder and Whirlwind
7. Many are destroyed
Two men were making a fire corral to impound game. They burned
the vegetation in a large circle leaving a small space free so the animals
could run in, then they could run out. They drove many animals into
the corral. One, a Grizzly said, "That's my Grizzly kind." Then an elk
ran up, Elk shot it, "That's my Elk," he said. Coyote said, "That's my
Coyote kind," and got a Coyote. They secured a great many animals each
one taking in the kind he was himself. Thus Wolf got a wolf and so on.
At night Grizzly took his game to his house. Coyote took his coyote
home. The other Coyotes liked it. The next day they hunted again.
Coyote thought, "They liked my coyote so much yesterday. If I were
to kill a bear I am sure they would like it much better than a coyote."
The next day he went out and called a bear. It bit Coyote and was
coming toward the fire clawing and biting. The other animals got scared.
The bear pushed Coyote up into the fire and he was burned. At night
his partner, Fox, asked, "Didn't Coyote bite Grizzly? There was fire
all over." "That's the place where he was killed," someone told him.
The next day Fox went and found the place where his friend was
killed. "Where are you? You must be alive." "You must be alive,"
echoed Coyote.
Fox found bones all scattered about. He took the head and laid it on
the ground. Then he arranged the rest of the bones and stepped over
them. Coyote became alive. "Ha ! I had a good long sleep," he yawned.
"You weren't asleep, you were dead." "Where are all the people ?"
The people came up. One cried, "That's my deer." Coyote had a
desperate idea. He said, "It's my Hail, it's my Thunder, it's my Whirl-
wind!" "That sounds like Coyote," some person said. "I thought Bear
had shot him."
It began to hail. It thundered. The people went to the prairie. Whirl-
wind came and blew the fire in every direction. They ran under a tree.
Lightning struck it. They went into the open. Hail hit them on the head.
Many were killed.
The road comes to an end.
140 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
b. by Tom Miyal
The numbers of the abstract refer to corresponding numbers in the
analysis of version a ; only the incidents which differ are mentioned, the
others are understood to be present.
2. Chief orders people to hunt each his own kind
3. Coyote calls Grizzly kind and cubs
4. Cubs kill Coyote
7. Coyote destroys Grizzly cubs
Once the chief of a village said, "Go hunt, Coyote hunt Coyote;
Grizzly kill Grizzly ; Mouse kill his kind, Mice ; each eat your own kind."
Then in the morning they went, they hunted. Mouse cried, "Mouse,
my kind !" It ran up. Grizzly called, "Grizzly, my kind !" It ran up. He
killed it. Then Coyote called. A coyote ran up. Coyote killed it. He took
it home ; he and his family ate. Then Mole, Coyote's wife, said, "My !
That which we ate was awful !"
The next morning Coyote said to Mole, "I am going to call, 'Grizzly,
my kind !' " Mole said, "Goodness no! He might bite." "No, I am going
to call him." Then he called Grizzly's kind. He carried it home to Mole's
house. The family ate until they became surfeited with the fat. Coyote
asked Mole, "Did you like it?" "Yes, I liked it."
In the morning Coyote said he was going to call the three bear cubs
who were full grown. Mole said, "No ! They are fierce. They might kill
you." The next day he went to hunt. Suddenly the call was heard,
"Grizzly, my kind ! Cubs, my kind !" Then they growled. The people
said, "Now Coyote is going to get it."
There in the brush the cubs growled. Coyote screamed. He was killed.
His head was bitten. The people all gathered. "Is Coyote gone?" Fox
went around and asked at all the houses. He said, "Have you seen
Coyote?" He was told, "Right there in the brush on the mountain we
heard growling because he called Grizzly his kind."
Fox went and searched for Coyote. Near the brush he said, "My boy-
friend,1 proud one, my boy-friend." Fox called Grizzly and he answered,
"My friend, proud one, my friend!" Fox said, "Are you alive? I'll turn
back again."
Then Fox went to where Coyote lay. Just fur was lying there. Only
pieces of Coyote were lying there, even some of them had been eaten.
Fox stepped over Coyote. He became alive again. Then Coyote yawning,
said, "My ! I must have been sleeping a long time."
1 Fox and Coyote use a reciprocal term which is a mispronunciation of the usual
word for "friend."
The Myths and Tales 141
"You were dead, your head was bitten by Grizzly. Look where you
were lying. The place is all full of maggots." They went back. All
gathered in the morning and went hunting. Coyote went also. The people
said, "Look out, there's no telling what he will say. Listen when he
talks. If he says something different we'll run back." Coyote called,
"You, big Hailstones of our kind ! You, Rain of our kind, big as pitch-
forks ! You, Wind of our kind, blow strong ! Come you, Thunder of
our kind !"
The people ran home. For a long time it hailed, it rained, it thundered.
Everybody was wet. Coyote went around looking. Under a tree sat the
three Grizzly cubs. He killed them. He went home.
The end of the trail.
No analogues to the Coeur d'Alene Hunting One's Kind story were
found in the myth bodies of the tribes studied.
Most tribes tell stories of one kind or another in the unfolding of
which a dead person is revived by being stepped over. The stylistic
element of Fox reviving Coyote in this manner, as it occurs in the
Coeur d'Alene myth, is found in stories of the Okanagon (cp. BBAE
59:283; MAFLS 11:72); Pend d'Oreille (MAFLS 11:114, 115, 116,
117) ; Sahaptin (MAFLS 11 :169) and Nez Perce (CUCA 25 :306, 465).
18. Coyote Kills Cricket with Elk Fat {Mistaken Kindness)
Coyote and Cricket visit
Cricket kills elk for Coyote
Coyote, feeling sorry for Cricket, feeds him meat
Coyote revives Cricket
As Coyote was going along he heard a noise which frightened him,
fa t'a fa. He looked for it and found it was a cricket. He said, "Hello,
my younger brother! It's a long time since I saw you." They shook
hands. Both were glad. Coyote said, "Do you know we are real brothers ?
My father and his father, then his father and his father were related.
So you are my little brother. Where is your house ?" Cricket answered,
"I have no house." "But what do you do at night?" "I just go to sleep
in the grass." Then said Coyote, "Oh! You must take the trail to my
house."
Then both went. Coyote returned home and just as he started to build
his fire Cricket arrived. "Come in! Sit down," said Coyote. Both were
glad and talked. After a while Coyote said, "I am poor (humble). I
142 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
have nothing to eat."1 "I am not hungry," said Cricket. Coyote said,
"But I am hungry."
He did nothing but walk around looking for food. They went to bed
and slept. The next day Coyote went out again to look for food. Cricket
went out and ate grass. Then he slept. Every time he was hungry he
just went out and found plenty of grass. Toward night Coyote came
back with two mice. Cricket said, "I saw something good for you." The
next day he said the same thing. Coyote thought, "You go and eat grass."
The grass was dry and Cricket did not like it. Coyote went far that
day. Cricket found good grass and ate his fill. Then he lay down, but
soon he heard a noise like a horse walking. He thought it might tread
on him. He went in another direction and still heard it. He saw it was
an elk. He made his noise fa fa fa. It frightened the elk. He looked
around. Then Cricket went fa fa fa. He ran off, fell over a cliff and
was killed. Cricket was glad. He thought, 'Now Coyote can eat. He is
starving. He can have plenty."
Cricket went under the cliff. There lay the elk. He had large antlers.
Cricket climbed up on the largest branch and sang, "Tuts tuts tuts, I
killed him."
When Coyote came home he wondered where Cricket was. He slept
in the morning. He thought, "I wonder where he is. Maybe he is dead."
Thinking he was dead Coyote pulled Cricket's little bag of belongings
apart, took out the sinew which was the only thing of value, toasted it
and ate it. Then he cried for Cricket. He took the sack and burned it.
Then he cried, "dwd w'd dwd wa, my brother. Is it his big belly that
ought to be mourned ; dwd wa, is it the back of his neck which is pitiable ?
Is it because he spits ?"
(This song is repeated four times.)
"Why is his thigh long?" He heard someone shout, "Tuts tuts tuts."
"Ha! he isn't dead. He is still alive." Then Coyote sang the mourning
song again and Cricket answered with his hunting song louder and
louder. Then Coyote said, "What is the matter? So you are still alive?"
Cricket said, "Come and cut up the meat or it might spoil." Coyote said,
"Oh my ! Thank you, so you killed something."
When he had cut half of the elk he roasted it and offered it to
Cricket. "No, I don't eat it. Fix it for yourself." Coyote cooked it and
while he was eating Cricket ate grass. His stomach swelled. He lay
down to sleep. His mouth was open.
Suddenly Coyote looked at him and said, "Poor thing, my young
brother. Here am I eating all the meat I want and his mouth is all
1 Formal way of inviting guests to eat but, as is usual with Coyote, the phrase
was only too true !
The Myths and Tales 143
chapped from eating grass." He dipped fat off the meat with a spoon
and put it on Cricket's mouth usuts suts suts! He burst open. His stomach
was all spread out flat. Coyote cried, "I didn't mean to do it, my young
brother."
He took elk sinew and sewed him the entire length of his body. He
smoothed down the sewing. He stepped over him. He became alive. "I
told you I never eat meat, only grass." Coyote was happy again. He said,
"I pitied you because your mouth was so dry. I thought I ought to
grease it."
Then Coyote went away. Cricket went away.
Allied myths, as far as the Cricket-Elk incident is concerned, are to
be found among the Sanpoil and the Thompson:
In the Sanpoil myth Cricket kills a buffalo bull ; he and his brother, Grasshopper,
feast upon it till Coyote carries them away; Cricket's grandmother pursues Coyote
in the form of a rock (MAFLS 11 :103).
In the Thompson version Mountain Grasshopper, kills Elk, upon whom he and
his brother, Common Grasshopper, feast (MAM 12:331).
The outstanding characteristic of the Coeur d'Alene myth, Coyote's
unusual kindness which makes for evil, was not found duplicated.
19. Coyote and Nighthawk Change Coats {Rolling Rock)
Coyote pursued by rolling rock
Nighthawk carries Coyote to safety and splits rock
Coyote secretly exchanges shirts with Nighthawk
Nighthawk recovers shirt from Coyote ; rock flattens his head
In the morning Coyote went off. All day he walked. All at once he
saw a rock on the ground. He sat down and started talking. "This rock
is good. I wish it was at my house. I would sit on it all the time because
it is so nice and smooth." He defecated on the rock. He went away. He
went far during the day. Every time he looked back he saw dust on his
trail. It frightened him so he went in zigzags because he thought the
rock was trailing him. He went in a circle ; always the dust was there.
He thought, "They are chasing me." He ran faster, then down to the
water. He jumped in. The rock fell in and just missed his tail.
Coyote swam across the river which was very wide. When he came
out of the water he walked a little to get warm. He spread his wet blanket
and lay down because he was cold. Just as he was going to sleep he heard
144 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
something like a person coming out of the water. It was the rock. Coyote
grabbed his blanket and ran. The rock touched his blanket and tore a
piece out of it. He ran further and saw a nighthawk flying around.
"Come down and help me out, partner," he begged. Nighthawk came
down. He said, "Hold on to my belt." Coyote said, "It's too little, it
will break. Let's double it with mine."
"No, it won't break."
They flew up, Coyote holding on to Nighthawk's belt. The rock called
to Nighthawk, "Put him down here. I want to kill him because he def-
ecated in my eye."
Coyote said, "No, don't take me down !" Whenever Nighthawk flew
down Coyote begged him not to alight. Finally he flew suddenly down
on the rock and it split into pieces. Coyote was glad. Nighthawk said to
him, "Come, take some for earrings." Then he said, "Come, let me carry
you again," but Coyote said, "No, my chest might get sore, but because
I am grateful I will carry you." He carried him around. Nighthawk
went to sleep. Coyote went slowly, then put him down. He looked at him
and coveted Nighthawk's shirt. He took off Nighthawk's shirt and his
own. He put his on Nighthawk and Nighthawk's on himself. He thought
he looked nice and said to himself, "Now when I go to Spokane how
nice I will look !"
He went away. He had not gone far when he found himself walking
in jerks as Nighthawk flies. Every once in a while he jerked upward,
each time higher, but each time swooping to the ground again. Finally
he went very high, bumped into a tree and was killed.
When Nighthawk woke he felt chilly. He said, "Where is my shirt?
It is gone." Coyote's shirt was on him. "That Coyote is crazy, I suppose
he's got my shirt all bloody by this time," he remarked as he took
Coyote's shirt and trailed him. A little way off he found tracks, they
were lost and found again after a short distance. Finally he found Coyote
lying dead. He took his shirt off Coyote and put it on. Then he went to
sleep. When he woke up his head was heavy because a rock was on it.
It had made his head flat. His mouth was stretched out wide and pinched
together on each side.
Myths which somewhat resemble the Coeur d'Alene story are to be
found in Wasco and Shuswap mythology. In the Wasco myth the pur-
suing rock gets stuck in mud and Coyote escapes unassisted (PAES
2:272). In the two Shuswap versions, which belong in the series of
Coyote-Fox episodes, one occurring among the North Thompson Shus-
wap, Coyote obtains for himself Fox's golden eagle feather (silver fox
skin) robe which Fox recovers in turn with the aid of a whirlwind. The
The Myths and Tales 145
rolling rock element is lacking as well as the Nighthawk character
(MAM 4:634, 742).
A Sanpoil myth (MAFLS 11:103), which in its essential features
correlates with the Coeur d'Alene story "Coyote kills Cricket with Elk
Fat," concludes with the Rolling Rock episode: Cricket's grandmother
turns into a rolling stone and pursues Coyote who escapes by resorting
to his magic power (MAFLS 11 :103).
Reference to the Rolling Rock episode as a variant of the Rolling
Skull myth may be found in PAES 2 :272, footnote 2.
20. Cricket Rides Coyote
Coyote coaxes Cricket to ride him
Cricket tickles Coyote
Coyote bucks, Cricket's legs fall off
Coyote was walking. Suddenly he heard "tsututut!" He jumped. He
saw a Cricket, "Ha, my younger brother," he said, "Do you know we are
brothers?" "No, I didn't know it." "Yes, I am your brother. Where is
your house?" "I have none." "All right, let's go together." "No, you go
too fast for me. I am very slow." "Well," said Coyote "Ride me."
"You're too tall, I can't mount you." "Come," said Coyote. "We'll look
for a rock. I'll stand by it. You can climb up on it and mount me."
They found a rock. As Cricket was mounting Coyote said, "My! I
am ticklish. I might buck. I haven't been ridden for a long time. Hold
fast !" They started off. Somehow Cricket switched Coyote. Off he went.
He started to buck. Cricket fell off. He said, "That's enough! You go
on." But Coyote insisted, "No, come on. Ride me again. Put your legs
under my arms and I'll squeeze you tight." Cricket mounted again. "Now
hold tight, because you know how ticklish I am."
Cricket rode Coyote. Soon he bucked because he was being squeezed.
Cricket's hip came off. Coyote bucked and the other hip fell off. Coyote
looked back. There lay Cricket without his legs. Coyote said, "I guess
I better go on." He went off.
That is the end of my road.
No parallels were found to the Coeur d'Alene Coyote-Cricket myth.
Among the Kutenai Coyote incidentally gives Locust a ride. The ride
is interrupted however by a meeting with Grizzly Bear, whereupon
Coyote sets Locust down at the edge of a cliff; Locust scares Grizzly
into falling off the cliff; Grizzly dies (BBAE 59:2). The Kutenai myth
fits more aptly into the category of those myths dealing with the power
of the small one.
146 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
21. Coyote Snares the Wind
Wind blows constantly
Coyote catches Wind in trap
Coyote releases Wind on his promise not to blow all the time
At one time the wind blew hard every day. Then Coyote thought,
"I'll snare the wind. It passes around the mountain so that is where I'll
have to go. I'll go through the mountain."
There was a small hill between two larger ones.1 That is where Coyote
set the snare. He went home and slept. The next day he went to look.
Something was caught in the snare. It had long curly hair, a wide mouth
and big eyes. Coyote stood with his arrow ready and said, "You are
going to die." Just as he was ready to shoot Wind spoke, "Don't I look
pitiable. Don't shoot me !" "You are absolutely no good ! Every day you
blow around the houses and mess everything up. You're going to die.
Get ready !" "Please have pity on me."
"If you promise me saying, T won't blow any more,' you can live."
"I don't travel around for nothing." "What are you always looking for?"
"What will become of me if I stay home? What will I eat?" "What
do you eat now ?"
"I really don't know."2 "All right ! If you say, 'Four days I will blow.
Then I'll stop,' then I'll let you live." "All right ! I promise."
Coyote pulled the string and took it off the neck of the wind. So he
lives today, but he blows only sometimes, not all the time.
That is the end of the road.
The capture of the wind and his release upon promising not to blow
steadily is a myth theme of wide distribution. Although there is a marked
similarity in the elements of the various versions, the myth in the terri-
tory covered here is seldom found as a part of the Coyote cycle outside
the limits of Coeur d'Alene mythology. A Sanpoil myth in which Coyote
takes the measure of Blizzard, is an exception.
Coyote, aided by Fox, throws Blizzard in wrestling; Coyote decrees blizzards
shall not last more than two to three days and people shall no longer freeze to
death (JAFL 46:163).
A party sets out to make war on Southeast Wind; Southeast Wind
slips helplessly over the backs of halibut into the war party's canoe;
Southeast Wind is released upon promising to provide more pleasant
weather : this is the general outline for the version found in myths of
1 Some say it was at Tekoa Mountain, others that it was at Liberty Mountain.
a Perhaps the informant did not know.
The Myths and Tales 147
the Haida of Skidegate — Raven is the leader of the party of birds and
Halibut People (BBAE 29:129; MAM 8:183). Among the Haida of
Masset and the Kwakiutl Chief of the Ancients leads the party ; Golden
Eye, Wren, makes a fire in Southeast Wind's stomach to drive him
outside; Southeast Wind promises four days' good weather at a time
(some summer and some winter) (MAM 12:98, 350; CUCA 2:227).
Among the Newettee — Kute'na decides to get good weather (IS 186) ;
and in Tsimshian myth — Txamsem leads the fish against South Wind;
Red Cod causes Master of the South Wind to- cough ; Devilfish sucks
him out of his house ; South Wind promises four days of good weather
at a time (ARBAE 31 :79).
Additional myths concerned with the trapping of the wind are found
among the Thompson, Shuswap, Chilcotin, Southern Puget Sound peo-
ple, Nootka, Haida and Upper Chehalis.
The youngest contestant snares the Wind in his noose; he releases him on his
promise not to blow so hard (Thompson MAFLS 6:87; MAM 12:330; Shuswap
MAM 4:702).
Cold winds blow constantly; Fox and Hare release the warm Chinook wind of
the Heat people to act as a check upon the Cold People's winds (Shuswap MAM
11:624).
The Chief's son snares the Wind, a boy with a pot-belly and streaming hair ; he
releases him on his promise not to blow so hard and frequently (Chilcotin MAM
4:42).
The people seize the blustery South (Chinook) Wind; they stand him up; he
blows only a few days at a time (Southern Puget Sound UWPA 3 :69).
The people send Winter Robin to kill the Winds ; Winter Robin sits by the
Winds' fire and forgets to return to his people; Gull leads the people to Winds'
house; the people conquer all but West Wind; West Wind promises to allow the
tides to change twice a day (Nootka IS 100).
Southeast gives the people bad weather; Master Carpenter catches Southeast;
Southeast gets back to his home in the sea; the people stop irritating him by their
use of his sister's name as a word (Haida MAM 8:190).
Northeast Wind, dwelling in the sky, freezes the people; Southwest Wind leads
his people against him from their ocean home; Snowbird pulls the sky down for
their ascent; Southwest Wind's side is victorious; on his return from the sky
Snake murders his sister Toad for mocking his cross-eyes. In a second battle
Southwest Wind kills five of the seven Northeast Wind brothers by using a water-
sprinkler ; the southwest wind now melts snow and frost ( Upper Chehalis MAFLS
27:75).
148 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
C. MYTHS NOT IN COYOTE CYCLE
22. Catbird
Catbird, a little boy, lives with his grandmother
Catbird wishes for arrow
Catbird rides Elk and destroys him
Catbird sings for help to skin Elk
Wolf discovers Catbird's kill
Wolf provides moccasins for Catbird
Catbird destroys moccasins
Wolf goes for help
Catbird and grandmother set decoy of rotten wood
Catbird and grandmother smoke elk meat
Five Wolves fooled by rotten wood
Wolves follow Catbird and his grandmother
Catbird kills Wolves with hot rocks covered with fat
Catbird prepares elk sinew for bow and wishes for boxwood; gets it
Catbird wishes for someone to feather his arrow
Catbird lives with Eagles and secures feathers
Grizzly feathers Catbird's arrow
Catbird goes to water and fishes up as he wishes — fishing tackle, bucket and fish
Catbird eats all his fish alone
Grandmother leaves him
Catbird fishes more wishes — blanket, knife, dish, woman and child
Catbird's grandfather warns him against his good luck
Catbird and family visit girl's people under water
Child eaten by Water Monsters; Catbird and his grandfather return to earth
Catbird was a little boy who lived with his grandmother. One day he
said, "I ought to have something to shoot with." "Impossible !" said his
grandmother. "I have no materials to make it." "I'll go look for some-
thing," he said.
He went. He came to a river. He called to an elk, "Give me a ride,
my father's sister, my father's sister, aydyu ■ • •" The elk answered, "No,
my flesh is too old and tough, my fat is coarse."
Another elk came by, one of the old elk's children. Catbird cried to
him, "Give me a ride, my father's sister, my father's sister, aydyu • ■ •"
"No, I'm too young, my fat is too tender."
Then the largest oldest elk was requested to ferry Catbird across.
"You are pitiable, go right in and sit in the hair of my heel." As he
went into the water Catbird cried, "alilili, my little moccasins are getting
wet." "You are pitiful, crawl up to my knee where the hair is longer."
Catbird crawled up, then complained, "alilili, my little moccasins are
getting wet." "Come up to the tip of my tail," said Elk.
Catbird went up where the hair was long, but still complained. Then
The Myths and Tales 149
he moved up to the shoulder and then into Elk's ear, but even there he
feared getting wet. "What can we do so you don't get wet ?" asked Elk.
"Try sitting in the hair of my nose." Catbird went into Elk's nose and
did not stop there, but rushed right through his nose and throat to his
heart. He sat there, "My ! It's warm !" he thought. Elk thought, "That
rascal of a Catbird ! So that was what he went into my nose for."
Catbird took off his little moccasins and hung them up by Elk's heart.
Then he did something to the heart and Elk died. Catbird ran out but
he forgot his moccasins. Elk lay on the ground. Catbird sat up high
and sang.
"What might I use to sharpen my knife?
What might I use to drop on the whetstone ?
tsa • * • tsar tsar tsar tsar."
A wolf was walking by. He heard Catbird and understood instantly.
"He must need a knife," he thought. When Catbird saw Wolf he pre-
tended not to see him, he looked past him and thought, "I suppose he'll
take it away from me, my game which lies there." Then he sang :
How am I going to shave my little arrow?1
What may I drop on it to smooth it ?
tsa " • " tsar tsar tsar tsar."
Wolf understood him and asked, "Did you get game?" "No, I made
no kill." "But you were just singing:
"How may I sharpen my knife?
"What may I drop on my sharpener?"
"No! I said,
'How shall I shave it
'How shall I smooth it?'"
They kept arguing in this way until finally Catbird said, "Yes, I got
some game." "Where is it?" "It is lying there." Wolf said, "I have a
knife. I'll skin it. Go get your mother's brothers so they can come and
lick the blood." Catbird said, "I have no moccasins." "Go on, I'll lend
you some." "No they're too big." "I'll fix them for you. I can tie them so
they are smaller."
1 A slight change of the word here changes the meaning from skinning an elk to
shaving an arrow. It is impossible to render this satisfactorily in English.
150 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Wolf put the moccasins on Catbird and tied them tight. He went out of
sight, but only to beat them with a rock until they were in shreds. Then
he came back and said to Wolf, "They're all worn out."
"What is the matter? They're very thick. How did they get all ruined
like that? Soon I'll have this elk skinned, then I'll go get your uncles so
they will lick your (really your elk's) blood."
Wolf ran off and Catbird finished skinning the elk and covered it.
Then he ran home to his grandmother. "I got some game but the Wolves
will take it away from me." "Hurry, take your basket. We'll take it far
so they cannot get it."
He took his little basket and they ran to where the fresh meat was
lying. They put it all in Catbird's basket. They gathered rotten wood,
laid it just where the meat had been, and covered it with the elkskin.
Catbird took off his little shirt and his little hat and hung them on a bush
so that it looked just as if he were sitting there himself. They went, far
they went. They took the meat to a cliff. Near the edge they smoked the
meat. Catbird put five cooking stones into the fire and laid the layer of
fat from around the elk's stomach near him.
When Wolf went he told his four children, "Catbird got an elk. We'll
get it from him. We'll run. When you are biting Catbird I'll say to you,
'Don't, you'll scare him,' but don't listen to me."
The children ran. Wolf said loudly, "Look out, you'll scare your little
nephew." The first ran up to the rotten wood and bit it. They sniffed
and walked around it. Old Wolf thought, "I wonder why they do not
eat it." He came up and the children asked, "Where is the meat?"
"There under that skin." He uncovered it. Nothing was there. Then the
oldest Wolf said threateningly, "There's no place on earth I do not know."
They looked for tracks and followed them until they saw smoke. The
children ran and saw Catbird. Catbird took a stone from the fire and
wrapped the "veil" of fat around it. As the first wolf came under the
edge of the cliff he looked up. Catbird threw down the hot rock with the
grease coating and said, "Open your mouth. This will be your first tidbit."
Wide he opened his mouth. Catbird threw the stone in. Immediately
he had heartburn. "Your brother, why just one bite gives him heart-
burn !" Then he killed all of the wolves with his five grease-coated rocks.
After Catbird had helped his grandmother smoke the elk meat he pre-
pared sinew for his bow. "I wish I had a bow," he whined. "I wish I
could be where the bowwood tree cracks in the wind."1
"Impossible !" said his grandmother. "You would probably get caught
in the crack yourself." "I'm going to get it anyhow."
1The heart of the yew was used to make the bow (cp. ARBAE 45:95).
The Myths and Tales 151
He went for it. He brought it home and as he sat down to shave it he
said, "I wish I had someone to feather my arrow, one who is an expert.
I wish Grizzly would do it for me. I think he would do it well." "Im-
possible !" said his grandmother, "he would bite your head." "You are
always saying 'Impossible !' Tomorrow I am going to find out where
he is." "Right at the edge of the wood in a hole he lives," volunteered
the grandmother.
The next morning Catbird went toward the timber and, as he ap-
proached, he saw Grizzly eating. He said, "Never mind. I won't shoot
you. I came to ask you to feather my bow." "All right," and he went
back with Catbird.
As they came near the house Catbird said, "Wait here, let me go in."
He went in and said to his grandmother, "Why don't you have a fire?"
She went out for wood and saw Grizzly standing by the door. She ran
in and said to Catbird, "Why do you do such outrageous things?"
"Well," said Catbird innocently. "He'll be a great help. He is going to
feather my arrow."
In the morning Catbird got the wood for the arrows. As the arrows
were being made he said, "I wish I had some eagle feathers." "Impos-
sible !" exclaimed his grandmother. "What would you do with them if
you had them ?" "I'll go get some."
He searched long and finally found an eagle's nest with Eagle's chil-
dren in it. The mother Eagle was away looking for something for them
to eat. She caught Catbird and carried him to the nest and laid him in it
alive. When the little eagles ate he ate too. I don't know how long he
stayed there, but until the feathers of the little eagles had grown to just
the right size for his purpose. Then he tied two of the eagles together
and prodded them until they flew out of the nest; he sat among their
feathers. They were not able to fly far but flopped to the ground. He
then pulled out some wing and tail feathers and went home. He laid the
feathers down in front of Grizzly who finished feathering Catbird's
arrow. Then Catbird sent him away.
One day Catbird was wandering about and suddenly came to the shore
(of a lake?). He sweated for many days. Then he saw a fish in the
water. "I wish I had a line and hook." Some way he got the fishing tackle.
He fished and got a bite. "I wish I had a bucket," he went on. He had
another bite, pulled in the line and found he had fished up a bucket. He
cooked the fish but did not share it with his grandmother. When he went
home his grandmother gave him some food but he did not eat. Again
he sweated. Again he fished. Again he got a bite and cooked and ate the
fish all by himself. When his grandmother offered him food he said,
"No, I am not hungry."
152 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
When he had gone off somewhere the grandmother went to the shore
to investigate. She found his bucket. There were pieces of fish sticking
in it and on the bottom was a small fish eye. She was sorry Catbird was
so stingy.
The next morning when he went to sweat she called to him, "I'm
leaving you. You didn't share a shred of your fish with me." He looked
up and saw his grandmother going up into the air with something on
her back. "Don't leave me. Come back to me." "No. I'm leaving you for
good. You didn't share a bit with me."
In vain he implored her. For a long time he cried. He went to his
house. He had no blanket, everything was gone. He went to the shore
and sweated. Then he fished and everything he wished for appeared on
the hook. He fished up a blanket. Then he ran to his mother's father
and said, "I can fish up anything I choose to mention, just like that! All
I need to do is to fish and wish."
"You think that is good luck? You'll find it is the other way around."
Catbird however was excited and went back and fished up a knife, a
dish and other things. Then, "I wish I had a mate," he said. At that he
felt his line being pulled. He pulled hard and fished out a person. He
ran to his mother's father. "I fished out a person." "You better listen to
me. That is all for no good."
Catbird went back and saw a girl sitting there. Then he said, "I wish
I had a child." He threw in his hook and this time fished up a child. He
ran to his grandfather and said, "This time I fished up a child." Again
his grandfather warned him, "You better watch out. You'll go too far
and then you'll die."
He went back to the shore and the girl said to him, "Let's go back to
my parents." Once more he ran to his grandfather. "She tells me,
'Come back to my people.' " "I've already warned you often. You are
going to die, but I will go with you, then at least you will not be alone."
They all got into a canoe, Catbird, the girl with the baby and the
grandfather. The whole canoe with its load dived to the bottom of the
water. They saw a house on the shore, but the shore itself was all covered
with ice. The grandfather went up it all right. He did not even slip.
When he came up to the door he recognized the girl's parents. "What-
ever you do to us we'll do to you," he said.
Then Catbird and the girl with the baby came up and they all went in.
The house was made of ice and frost. When the child was taken from its
mother it disappeared. After they had stayed two days Catbird's grand-
father said, "Let us go back." "I am not going back again," said the
girl. "Neither am I," said Catbird. "No, let's go back together. They
The Myths and Tales 153
have already eaten your child. They will eat you too. They are man-
eating monsters."
So just Catbird and his grandfather went back to the canoe and it
came up to the surface of the water again. (There is much more to this
story but Dorothy did not know it. When he came to the surface Catbird
became some other kind of a boy and went about in his customary unruly
way trying to get everything he wanted. Coyote stole his bow and
arrow and Fox also enters into the tale.)
The power of the little one is a common myth feature. Small or young
characters with exceptionally great power have roles in at least one myth
of practically every tribe in the territory covered by this analysis. Among
these myths moreover there are a number which correspond closely to
the Coeur d'Alene outline of the Catbird story, through the point at
which Catbird is deserted by his grandmother.
Among the Sanpoil, Thompson and Kutenai one finds the identical
setup of the little boy living with his grandmother, who wishes for a
bow and arrow and lets nothing deter him till he gets it.
The people are unable to hit the sky with their arrows to start an arrow chain;
Woodpecker proceeds to obtain arrows ; he lights on Elk's neck while Elk is cross-
ing the river, cuts it, and kills him; he makes a bow out of Elk's rib; he fashions
arrows out of serviceberry wood ; he precipitates one fight between Eagle and Bald
Eagle in order to collect their feathers for his arrows, another between Flint Rock
and Hard Rock to procure chips for arrowpoints ; he shoots the arrow chain and
the people ascend to the sky to obtain fire (Sanpoil JAFL 46:152).
Woodpecker comes upon a dead elk and sings for a knife ; Wolf discovers Wood-
pecker's game; Woodpecker fails five time to fetch Wolf's nephews, while Wolf is
skinning the elk; Wolf goes for them; Woodpecker fetches his grandmother and
the two carry the elk to a cave ; the Wolves find them ; Woodpecker kills the
Wolves with hot rocks covered with fat ; he makes arrows ; he takes a deer rib for
a bow ; he wraps snakeskins around his arrows and trades some of them to Coyote ;
the snakes bite Coyote to death ; Fox revives Coyote ; Woodpecker shoots an arrow
chain on which the people ascend to the sky to obtain fire (Sanpoil JAFL 46:153).
An old woman and her grandson live together; the boy rides Deer across the
river and cuts his throat ; the five Wolves discover the kill ; the old woman sets a
decoy of rotten wood and wishes herself, her grandson and the meat onto the ledge
of a cliff; the Wolves are fooled by the rotten wood; the boy kills all but the
youngest Wolf with hot stones wrapped in suet ; the boy precipitates a fight between
two eagles and gathers their feathers for new arrows ; he turns into a chickadee
(Sanpoil MAFLS 11:107).
When the three Sanpoil versions are used to supplement one another,
the combination is seen to reproduce the Catbird's story incident for
154 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
incident through three-quarters of the myth, that is, as long as the little
fellow and his grandmother live together. The last fourth of the Coeur
d'Alene myth, Catbird's fishing of his wishes out of the sea, is replaced
by the shooting of the arrow chain and the Earth People's quest for
fire. The Sanpoil reference to Woodpecker's exchange of arrows with
Coyote may be a slight clue to the unrecorded continuation of the Coeur
d'Alene story, which the narrator had forgotten beyond such vague ideas
as Coyote's theft of Catbird's bow and arrow, etc.
A boy is advised by his grandmother on the making of a bow and arrows ; he
rights with Eagle and pulls out his tail-feathers ; he rides Buck Deer, cuts his neck
and takes sinew for his bowstring; he precipitates a fight between the two owners
of arrowstone and gathers up the stone which drops off them ; Raven chips the
stone into arrowheads for him {Thompson MAFLS 6:75).
Wren wishes for a bow and arrow so he can reach the sky; he rides Elk across
the river and stabs him ; Wolf tries to steal the elk ; Wren kills Wolf with hot
stones wrapped in fat; he uses Elk's rib for a bow, obtains feathers for his arrow
by having an eagle carry him to its nest and gets flint by means of a fight between
its owners; he proceeds to where people are assembled to shoot an arrow chain
(Kutenai BBAE 59:283, 21).
Despite his great-grandmother Frog's warning, Yaukwe'ikam steals serviceberry
bushes from Grizzly Bear to obtain arrowwood for arrows ; he receives feathers in
exchange for ear ornaments from the ducks on the lake; he kills Bull Moose for
Mouse and takes the moose's sinew ; he destroys two large squirrels blocking the
trail, opens it up and procures bowwood, thus completing his bow and arrows
(Kutenai) .
A third Kutenai variant of the Coeur d'Alene Catbird quest for bow
and arrow is a Chickadee and Elk story, one of the most faithful parallels
of Catbird's experience with the Elk and the Wolves.
Chickadee wishes to get some elk meat; he rides Fat Elk across the river and
stabs him ; he sings for help to skin Elk ; Wolf discovers Chickadee's kill and com-
mences to skin it; he provides Chickadee with two pairs of moccasins, both of
which Chickadee destroys ; Wolf sets out to fetch his family himself ; Chickadee
entices him back twice to tire him ; Wolf takes Elk's tongue home to his father-in-
law who eats it so quickly he chokes to death ; Chickadee sets a decoy of rotten
wood and fetches his grandmother Frog; Frog transfers her grandson, the meat
and herself onto a high rock ; Wolf and his children return for the game and are
fooled by the rotten wood ; Wolf drinks at the river and is duped by Chickadee's
reflection in the water ; Chickadee kills Wolf with a hot rock covered with fat ; he
declares the Wolf children shall henceforth be wolves (Dyer ms.).
The Shuswap, Nez Perce and Chilcotin likewise relate the story of the
little one — corresponding to Catbird without a grandmother — who makes
The Myths and Tales 155
a big kill and foils Wolf's, Coyote's or Wolverine's attempt to take it
away from him.
Wren rides Bull Elk and scratches him to death under pretense of looking for his
woodticks ; Wolf hears Wren singing about his kill ; Wolf swallows Wren four
times ; each time Wren escapes out of Wolf's anus ; Wren admits his kill to Wolf ;
Wolf cuts up the elk and instructs Wren to carry the pieces to the young Wolves;
Wren takes them instead to a ledge and invites the birds to eat with him; he kills
Wolf and her children with boiling hot meat which burns their insides (Shuswap
MAM 4:751; ARBAE 31:940).
Porcupine, sitting under Buffalo's foreleg, rides across the river and slashes
Buffalo to death ; Coyote hears Porcupine singing for help in sharpening his knife ;
Coyote challenges Porcupine to jump over the buffalo, the winner to receive the
meat; Coyote wins, wounds Porcupine and leaves his one child behind while he
fetches the rest of his family; Porcupine recovers, kills Coyote's child, sets him up
as a decoy and takes the buffalo meat to the top of a tree; he drops the buffalo
head down upon Coyote and his family and kills them (Nez Perce JAFL 21 :21).
Porcupine rides across the river on Caribou and pierces him with a quill ; Wol-
verine comes up and helps Porcupine skin the caribou; Porcupine eats the fat off
the intestines he was sent to wash; when Wolverine strikes him, he feigns death;
Wolverine goes to fetch his family; Porcupine takes the meat up a greased tree;
he drops a sharpened rib down upon the Wolverines; Wolverine jumps aside and
escapes ; Porcupine helps him up the tree and tells him to defecate on a small
branch; Wolverine is plunged to his death (Chilcotin MAM 4:40).
A Thompson version of the episode takes an unusual twist at the end
— the young one is vanquished :
Wren calls Elk and jumps into the fattest elk's anus; he cuts its heart and
jumps out, forgetting his knife inside; Wolf and Coyote hear him singing for help
to butcher the elk; they carve it up for themselves leaving only the paunch for
Wren (MAM 12:342; ARBAE 31:944).
In a Tsimshian variant the little boy is temporarily overpowered and
deprived of his meat but, with supernatural aid he takes his revenge :
Tsak lives with his grandmother ; Grizzly Bear steals their salmon ; Tsak scolds
Grizzly; Grizzly snuffs him in; Tsak makes a fire inside Grizzly and kills him;
Tsak fetches his grandmother and they cut the bear up; the boy visits the village
of the Wolves ; the Wolves tie him up, go to his home and eat all the bear meat ;
a supernatural being helps Tsak; he marries Wolf chief's daughter and receives
much property (BBAE 27:117).
The small one's experience with a bear is the subject of a Bella Coola
myth :
The bird, Stska'aka, discovers Bear is stealing his salmon ; he scolds Bear ; Bear
snuffs him in; Stska'aka comes out through Bear's anus; the fourth time Bear
156 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
corks himself up ; Stska'aka makes a fire inside Bear and kills him ; Stska'aka flies
to his mother ; she makes the stone on which they sit grow into a cliff ; the two roll
redhot stones down upon Bear's four friends who come to avenge him (IS 256).
In a story from Rivers Inlet when his older brothers fail to catch game, Stskin
goes forth and burns a bear to death in the manner of Stska'aka among the Bella
Coola; Stskin is obliged to cut off the bear's nose and bring it to his mother to
convince her of his kill ; the men go to fetch the bear ; Raven gets all the fat and
meat by trickery (IS 212).
In Chinook, Coast Salish and Nez Perce myths the small one's prob-
lem after he has destroyed the elk or bear is with his grandmother rather
than with a thieving Wolf or Coyote.
Entsx calls a male elk, enters its anus, cuts its stomach and kills it; he fetches
his grandmother to help him pack and prepare the elk; when the meat is boiled,
his grandmother makes holes in all his spoons ; he pours the boiling water over his
grandmother and kills her {Chinook BBAE 20:119).
Wren calls Elk, enters him, cuts his heart and kills him; he butchers him and
fetches his grandmother to help pack the meat; his grandmother insists on packing
the genitals and copulates with them. Wren misses the elk marrow which he had
saved; he strikes his grandmother on the throat and the marrow comes out; she
leaves him, weeping; the people dress Wren's grandmother up and give her to him
for a wife {Upper Chehalis MAFLS 27:33). Wren frets until his grandmother
has intercourse with him ; a bird detects them ; Wren fights the bird ; his grand-
mother burns him up by mistake ; the bird escapes ; Wren turns into the wren, his
grandmother into the bluebird ( Upper Chehalis MAFLS 27 :36 ; Cowlitz MAFLS
27:185). Coon insults Grizzly Bear; Grizzly swallows him; the agates on Coon's
back cut Grizzly to pieces ; Coon fetches his grandmother ; she cohabits with
Grizzly's genitals in the sweathouse ; Coon burns her up ; he eats all the bear meat
and crawfish; still hungry, he eats his grandmother's private parts by mistake; his
teeth fall out {Cowlitz MAFLS 27:220).
Raccoon Boy encounters a bear ; he kills her by thrusting her thorn needle into
her ear; he fetches his grandmother; he sends her to the menstruation lodge and
eats up all the bear meat ; his grandmother wraps herself in a bearskin ; she crushes
him to death {Nez Perce CUCA 25:265; MAFLS 11:197).
A Quinault myth concerns itself exclusively with the little one's ex-
perience with Elk.
Elk has been taking away Wren's spears ; Wren flies into Elk's nose and scratches
him; Elk bleeds and sneezes to death (MAM 4:126; ARBAE 31 :944).
Catbird's method of killing the Wolves with hot rocks covered with
fat and his contact with the Eagles to obtain feathers are two incidents
The Myths and Tales 157
in the stories of the small one who makes a bow and arrow which have
a far-reaching stylistic significance.
The hot rock episode is used in a wide variety of myths which may
have no further points in common. A list of references to representative
instances where the device is resorted to follows : Quinault — Wildcat boy
against a pursuing monster woman (MAM 4:116: ARBAE 31:940).
Haida, Tlingit and Tsimshian — Raven against male or female Grizzly
Bear, upon whom he wishes to feast (MAM 14:312; BBAE 39:7;
BBAE 27:57). Tlingit — trickster Raven against his sister, the guillemot
(IS 317). Tsimshian — Txamsem against two Grizzly Bear wives, whose
meat replenishes his larder (ARBAE 31 :88) ; Nez Perce, Kathlamet and
Wishram— Coyote against Grizzly Bear (CUCA 25 :183 ; BBAE 26 :149;
PAES 2:165). Kwakiutl and Newettee (CUCA 2:241; IS 177)—
Squirrel-made-to-go-up against Omal who peeps at Squirrel through a
knothole (CUCA 2:241; IS 177). Kutenai — Woodpeckers against
Nalmu'qtse ; the red-hot stone wrapped in a mountaingoat's heart misses
its mark (BBAE 59:77, 87). In a Thompson myth the fugitive Black
Bear children from their point of vantage in a tree promise to throw the
youngest Black Bear to Grizzly Woman agitating below ; they throw her
dry rotten wood mixed with ants ; Grizzly is choked and blinded ( MAM
12:220; MAFLS 6:71).
The tussle with the Eagles for eagle feathers has a special place in
myths of the Transformer cycle. The transformer is assaulted by man-
eating Eagles while attempting to gather feathers for arrows or decora-
tion and his dealings with the birds get under way.
In a Chilcotin version Lendixtcux wears the birds out from flying with a stone
tied to their feet and kills them; he spares one eaglet instructing it never to kill
men again (MAM 4:12).
Among the Shuswap Tle'esa deludes the Cannibal Eagle into believing him dead
by dripping red and white paint from his mouth; he kills Eagle and takes [his
brothers take] his tail-feathers ; he commandeers the eaglets to carry him down
to earth and transforms them into harmless birds (MAM 4:649; ARBAE 31:613;
IS 4).
Catbird's fishing of his wishes and sojourn under water is a unique
Coeur d'Alene supplement to the story of the small one. One or another
stylistic feature of Catbird's visit may be found in the typical Quinault
myth outlined below, but this sea journey, like the others, has its own
distinctive setting.
A deserted girl and her brother obtain much whale meat; the pair embark on a
whale with their child; the rest of the people visit under water with them; they
158 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
must follow in the leader's footsteps in order to keep their footing on the slippery
beach at the bottom of the sea (MAM 4:97).
In conclusion a stylistic parallel to the fishing of one's wishes out of
the water may be pointed out in Ten' a mythology :
All of a family of sisters except the second oldest who was a bad girl, draw in
husbands in bags on their fish hooks ; they dive into the water to settle in their
husbands' village (PAES 6:94).
23. Skunk and Fisher
Skunk and Fisher live together ; Skunk keeps house and gets only scraps to eat
Chipmunk and Squirrel are sent to Fisher
Chipmunk laughs at Skunk's noise
Skunk hides girls
Girls scorn Skunk's food
Fisher keeps up fire and prevents Skunk from visiting girls at night
Fisher and girls desert Skunk
Skunk pursues them, sees their reflection in water and threatens to kill them
Skunk loses his fluid in water
Skunk sends his fluid into Fisher's eye ; girls come down to Skunk
Girls run away from Skunk and leave rotten wood in their place
Skunk pursues them ; tricks his hosts, leaving his dung to look like camas
Skunk steals baby
Skunk tells people hardluck story
Skunk kills people with his fluid ; spots Antelope and Wild Canaries
Skunk cures blindness
Skunk honored as chief
People transformed into stars
Skunk and Fisher lived together. They had lots of deer. They would
go hunting in the morning. They would kill two deer. Fisher would clean
them and prepare the meat. Skunk would say, "Don't give me any meat,
just the entrails, the fat and the meat near the back of the tail. That's
all I ever want. You just give me those scraps from now on." Cus-
tomarily they did that. Fisher hunted and secured plenty of meat but
Skunk took only the scraps.
Not far from where they lived there was a village. Eagle was the chief
who had two daughters. The younger was Chipmunk, the elder was
Squirrel. One day he said to them, "Go to Fisher so he will give you
meat." Before they left their mother said, "When you go in look care-
fully at the meat. What Skunk gets is no good. It's only scraps. Fisher's
is the only good meat."
The girls went. They came into the house and sat down. They looked
at what Skunk had at the head of his bed, then at what Fisher had.
The Myths and Tales 159
Just as it became dark they heard Skunk's noise p'ap'aq'. He made
this noise (of breaking wind) every time he took a step. Chipmunk had
to laugh at this. Squirrel, her sister, said, "Keep quiet and come under
the mat so he cannot see you." Meanwhile Skunk came nearer and
Chipmunk was convulsed with giggles. He heard her and saw them.
Then he asked, "Did your parents tell you to come to Fisher's bed?
There's my bed." He grabbed one of them by the arm and made her go
in behind his pillow. Then the other hid there too. Skunk set about
making a fire. Soon a noise was heard, tcisasafat'af. It was Fisher.
Then Squirrel said to her sister, "Didn't I tell you! What a nice noise
his is !" Fisher laid down two deer and said to Skunk, "Come, drag them
in!" Skunk said, "You make me ashamed. What if someone heard you
say that?" Fisher thought, "That's funny! He never said that before."
Skunk dragged in the deer and as Fisher cut them up he said, "Give me
some of the ribs to cook." Fisher thought, "I won't be stingy. I'll give
him some."
He prepared the meat, gave some to Skunk and they both cooked.
When the food was done and they were ready to eat Skunk said, "Let's
share with our pillows." "What do we want to feed our pillows for?"
asked Fisher. "It's all right," said Skunk. He took a dish, put meat in
it and set it just behind his pillow. Then he watched it while he and
Fisher ate. When they had finished Skunk said, "Let us look." His plate
was the same. He told Fisher to look at his. "What do I want to do
that for?" "Oh, go ahead."
Fisher looked. The plate was empty. Only bones were left. "My,
there must be someone here," said Skunk. Fisher thought, "I wonder
why he says that. He never says it other times."
At night they went to bed. Fisher laid a stick on the fire. Skunk said,
"You are making it too hot for me." "No, I feel sore, my back hurts."
They both lay down near the fire. As the fire died down so that the
house was dark Skunk got up. Just as he got near his pillow Fisher
kicked the wood and it lighted up the house. So Skunk came back and
lay down. Thus Fisher kept it light all night.
In the morning they got up and cooked. Again as they were dishing
up the food Skunk said, "Let us share with our pillows." Fisher pro-
tested but again they put food near the pillows. When they had finished
eating they looked at the dishes they had put near their pillows. Skunk's
was the same as before, but on Fisher's plate there were only bones.
Fisher then went out and rolled a disk which made a noise like a
bull-roarer. Skunk thought, "He's gone now." Fisher had gone out only
to hide near the house in the brush. Then Skunk said to the girls, "Come
with me. Fisher is already gone." So Squirrel and Chipmunk went with
160 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
him. He ran around making his noise. Chipmunk always laughed when
he did that but Squirrel was quiet. Soon Skunk said, "Go back into the
house. I am going away too." Fisher saw him go. When Skunk got out
of sight Fisher went in to Skunk's bed where the two girls were hiding.
"What are you doing here? Did your people tell you, 'Go to Skunk's?'
What were you going to get from him? Look at what he has handed
out to him, nothing but disgusting odds and ends." Squirrel said,
"Chipmunk laughs too much." Fisher said, "Go over there. We'll leave
Skunk. We'll take the meat supply along."
They took the food and burned the house. It made a lot of smoke.
They went past the smoke.
Meanwhile Skunk had been eating grass. When he had eaten enough
he lay down on his back. He saw the smoke and thought, "The Cayuse
must be burning the Coeur d'Alene." Then he noticed that the smoke
was near and he got up and ran. As he came closer he saw it was near
his own house. As he went over the hill he was sure of it. "Oh the
chief's daughters, they may have died," he cried. He ran as fast as he
could, but when he got there the house was burned. "The Squirrels died,"
he cried. He took a stick and stirred the fire thinking, "I might find some
bones," but he did not find any. Then he wondered, "What could have
become of them?"
He sat down. He thought, "I'll leave. Maybe Fisher will come back
at night and then we'll find out." However Fisher did not come back at
night. Then Skunk thought, "All over the earth I will go. There is no
corner where I will not go."
So he started off. When he had gone far he found tracks of three
people, Fisher's between the tracks of the Squirrel girls. Farther on he
followed. Then he became thirsty. He saw a cliff" and underneath it a
spring. He went to drink. "What's the matter ?" He saw the Fisher party
deep in the water. "You are going to die," said Skunk. "Leave Squirrel
and Chipmunk." But Fisher only laughed at him and did not go away.
"All right ! You'll all die." So saying he exuded his fluid there in the
water. They laughed and he did it again. Then he had no more. His
strength had all gone into the water. He ate again and when he had
enough he went back to the water. He lay down. Soon he thought, "I'll
do that lying down this time." He lay on his back and looked up at the
top of the cliff where he saw the three were sitting.
He got up. He said to the girls, "Leave him ! I am going to squirt my
fluid into his eyes." They said nothing. They only laughed. Then Fisher
said to them, "Go far away. He can't reach me anyway."
They went far away. Then Skunk sent his fluid into Fisher's eye.
The Myths and Tales 161
Skunk said to the Squirrel girls, "Jump down !" The girls paid no atten-
tion. "Hurry ! If you don't come down I'll do the same thing to you."
They came down. They were sorry. Skunk said to them, "What busi-
ness had you to go with Fisher?" They went away. They camped. At
night Skunk ordered "Go fix my bed." The poor girls were obliged to
fix Skunk's bed. They chose a smooth spot, they piled grass high for a
mattress. Skunk lay down. He said, "You, Squirrel, will be my pillow."
The poor thing lay down. "You, Chipmunk get under the calf of my
leg for a support." She had to get under his leg. In the morning Skunk
was asleep. Chipmunk woke up. She looked at Skunk. His legs were
spread out. She said to her sister, "Wake up!" She answered, "I am
already awake." "Go get a piece of wood. Put it down here where I am."
As her sister put it down she crawled out from under Skunk's head.
They put a piece of wood under his legs. Then they ran off.
Skunk kept on sleeping. He finally woke up and said, "Chipmunk,
wake up! You have no flesh. You are hard." She paid no attention.
Then he threw back his head and called Squirrel. But no, she was not
there ! There was nothing but a stick of wood. "Now you are going to
get it!" he threatened when he found that neither of the girls was
there. He ran off, found their tracks and followed them. He came to a
place where camas was being baked in a pit. Someone said to him,
"Maybe you are Skunk." "So you're here," he said. "I'm hungry for
cooked camas." "Yes. You may eat."
The pit was just being uncovered and the food was taken out. He sat
at some distance. "Come, sit nearer," he was told. "No just pass a dish
over to me here," he said. He took a sack. He dumped the camas on it.
He ate. He got up to go. He had some camas tied up for his lunch.
Where he had been sitting the people saw some camas which had been
spilled. "Look, you spilled some," they told him. "No, I tied it up and
fastened it to my belt (like a purse)," he said. Then they asked, "Are
you leaving it?" "No, I've already eaten the camas," he said. Then he
went away and they found he had left his dung looking like camas.
Again he came to a settlement. Again he did not sit with the people
but a little apart. At night something cried. The chief said, "Go see the
baby." Someone went. It was dark. Skunk went. He saw there were
many houses. He peeped in. He saw all the people passing a baby around
from one to the other. He was not seen but he had his two hands cupped
and moved in among the people. Then he took the baby. The people
said, "Where is it? It is gone!" They scattered. In the morning they
saw Skunk. He said to them, "I have something to tell you."
The chief called the people together. "Come we have something to
announce." Skunk said, "Sit down. I want to tell you. I just came from
162 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
the Cayuse country. As I passed by the enemy ran after me. There must
have been a hundred of them. I did my best but my firstborn was cap-
tured. I came on but a hundred and fifty of the enemy attacked me. My
secondborn was captured. I kept on running. I crossed the river in the
Cayuse country. Then my third child was captured. I'll stop right here.
I want to go out."
He got up and just as he got to the door they could see his fists were
far apart and he was holding something in them. He squirted his fluid
on the door poles. The people all fell back. Skunk was gone. Fox ran
out. On the way Skunk had thrown his fluid on Antelope right near
the tail. He threw some on the little animals which became wild canaries.
That is why their feathers are yellow. He saw Coyote. All the people
died. A poor old blind woman like me (the narrator) was standing at the
door. "How are you?" said Skunk.
The old woman pointed to her left eye. "Just a little I can see."
Skunk sent some fluid in the eye and she could see. Then he threw
some into the eye of another old blind woman. "Fine ! I can see every-
thing now," she said. "I got my eyes back again." Then Skunk asked
the old women, "Are there many people over here?" "Yes," they said.
"Carry me back to pay me for curing you," he said. They said, "We'll
take you in a canoe." Skunk said to them, "You must respect me as if
I were a chief."
He sat in the canoe in state. One of the old women sat in front of
him, the other behind. They moved on. The old woman said, "There is
a nice village ; it is white with houses." Skunk said, "Call out ! Say, 'Here
comes a chief with yellow moccasins. He has stripes at the back of his
head and on his back. His eyes and his tail are striped.' "
The people crowded out to the shore. Skunk sat very dignified with
his arms folded as if he were a chief. The chief and his people lifted
him by the arms1 and carried him up to the village. So they went. They
made the noise of transformation and became stars.2
The end of the road.
The Skunk and Fisher myth has numerous analogues, all of which
follow the same general outline. Such myths are found among the
Kutenai, Shuswap, Northwest Sahaptin, Coast Salish, Nez Perce,
Kathlamet, Quinault, Chilcotin, Achomawi and Coos. The main elements
of the individual myths are outlined below :
The grandmother of Chipmunk and Big Chipmunk sends her granddaughters to
Fisher; Skunk takes the girls in; Fisher escapes with the girls; Skunk shoots his
* The way of showing the highest respect to a hero was to lift him under the arms,
raise him high and carry him thus to the house.
aThey became something other than they were, perhaps stars.
The Myths and Tales 163
fluid at them and kills all three; Skunk revives the two girls and takes them for
wives ; the girls hem Skunk in with rocks, escape and revive Fisher ; Skunk escapes
from the rock barrier by pushing out his body parts one by one, Raven flying away
with his musk bag ; Skunk comes to people playing with his musk bag and recovers
it (Kutenai BBAE 59:231).
Two women are sent by their parents to marry Fisher; the women laugh at
Skunk's noise and become his wives ; Fisher and the women escape to a cliff, leav-
ing wood in their place; Skunk shoots his fluid into the water at the foot of the
cliff ; the three up above mock him and he leaves, ashamed (Shuswap MAM 4 :752) .
Skunk hides a woman ; his housemate, Eagle, takes the woman to a bluff ; Skunk
ejects his musk into the water at the base of the bluff; Eagle cuts the rope on
which he is hoisting Skunk, Skunk drops into the water and sets out in search of
his musk sac which has floated away; he recovers it from people who are playing
with it ; he ej ects his musk at all the people who had spoken harshly to him ; Cougar
escapes Skunk; Prairie dog overcomes Skunk by whistling (Northwest Sahaptin
UWPA 2:207).
A chief's elder daughter follows the wrong trail and is taken in by Skunk;
Skunk's master, Cougar, runs away with the girl beyond the sky ; Skunk pursues
and shoots his musk into the water ; the two up above knock out his anus with hot
rocks when he attempts to ascend to them backside up; Skunk follows it down the
river and recovers it from people rolling it as a hoop; Skunk shoots his musk at
those people who were unkind to him; he is frightened by Skwkwi'kw's whistling,
dies and loses his dangerous powers [Skunk kills Cougar; Fox escapes Skunk by
whistling; five Wolves render Skunk harmless and revive Cougar] (Upper Che-
halis, Cowlitz MAFLS 27:46, 198).
Skunk hides the five Killdeer girls who have come to marry Eagle and sends the
five Frog sisters to him instead; Eagle sends the Frog sisters home; Eagle flees
to a cliff with the Killdeer girls ; Skunk shoots his musk into the water at the foot
of the cliff ; Eagle knocks out Skunk's musk sac with a hot stone ; Skunk recovers
his musk sac, is alarmed by his captive's whistling and is killed by the wolves
(Nes Perce CUCA 25:251).
Owl hides the girl sent to his chief, Panther, by Bluejay; after five nights Pan-
ther finds the girl and takes her; Owl and Panther fight in the air; the girl puts
Panther's bones together and replaces his missing intestines with those of Lynx
(Kathlamet BBAE 26:129). [The air-fight or tree-fight, though it has no counter-
part in Coeur d'Alene mythology, is a common myth episode, called into service
most often in connection with the overpowering of dangerous beings.]
A girl, sent to Owl's house, arrives at Screech Owl's by mistake ; the girl flees
and hides in a tree; Screech Owl jumps at her reflection in the water and is almost
frozen ; the girl marries Owl ; Screech Owl claims her for his wife ; the fifth time
Owl and the girl tear Screech Owl to pieces (Quinault MAM 4:122).
164 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Some girls hide in a house ; they laugh at Skunk smelling about for them ; Skunk
finds and marries them; some men steal them and carry them to a mountain top;
Skunk tracks them, ejects his secretion and the mountain falls, killing the men; the
girls tire of Skunk and run away to sky country, to return eventually to their
mother's house (Chilcotin MAM 4:28).
Two sisters are sent to chief Pine Marten ; the younger girl saves her sister from
being deceived by Coyote's disguise ; Hawk Man takes the two girls in ; Hawk
Man, given nothing but bones to eat by the people, tries to feed the girls his own
flesh; the younger sister discovers his identity; the two girls go to Pine Marten;
Hawk Man causes a great rain; Pine Marten has Hawk Man's head cut off
(Achomawi JAFL 21:163).
Two girls, sent to Sea Otter, a great hunter, marry his servant, Old Beaver, by
mistake; the girls leave Beaver and marry Sea Otter; when Beaver pursues them,
the people kill him (Coos JAFL 22:35).
Despite the variations to be noted in even the main features of these
abstractions, notably in the myth denouement as compared with that of
the Coeur d'Alene story which is not found duplicated, a general frame-
work outlines them all : girls are sent to a person of rank and standing ;
his servant or inferior takes them in by deceit; they manage to get to
the one whom they sought originally; the servant may avenge himself
temporarily, but is ultimately overcome. In those myths most similar
to the Coeur d'Alene story in which Skunk has the role of the evil-doer,
he consistently has certain distinguishing characteristics and features
which identify him — his degrading servility, disagreeable noise, danger-
ous fluid (its loss and recovery), delusion by reflections in the water,
treachery to his hosts and talkative, story-telling habit. There is often
also his cringing defeat brought about by his victim's whistling, though
this is not included in the Coeur d'Alene model. Skunk as a kidnapper
and a chief is a distinctly Coeur d'Alene addition. When other char-
acters such as Screech Owl, replace Skunk, they may possess several,
generally only the first, of these distinctive Skunk features.
A Kutenai and a Southern Puget Sound story have singled out one
major element of the Coeur d'Alene myth for the motivation of a
short story.
Skunk pursues Panther (Fox) to a lake; he breaks wind at Panther's reflection
in the water ; he lies down and discovers Panther up above ; before he can act,
Panther shoots him [Skunk succeeds in killing Panther in the tree] (Kutenai
BBAE 59:24, 41, 49).
A girl is warned by Raccoon Woman, slave of Thunderbird and his housemate,
Skunk, not to laugh at Skunk's jesting and singing or she will be obliged to become
The Myths and Tales 165
Skunk's wife; the girl heeds the warning; Master Hunter marries her {Southern
Puget Sound UWPA 3:106).
24. The Girls Who Stole Dentalia {Kidnapping)
Chief orders daughters to throw all bones into water and not look at them
Daughters disobey and discover bones have turned into dentalia
Girls build house in woods
They get threat for stringing dentalia by lying
Chief discovers deceit and deserts daughters
Girls cross river
Younger girl breaks eating taboo and is deserted by older sister
Older girl gives Mudhen dentalium
Mudhen secures girl as wife for her grandson, Redheaded Woodpecker
Baby is born to girl and kidnapped by four man-eating sisters
Mother pursues Man-eaters
Meadowlark directs her
Mother catches full-grown son in sweathouse
Proves motherhood by jumping in her son's tracks and throwing a pailful of water
without spilling any
Son leaves dummy behind and flees with mother
Man-eaters pursue
Son and mother cross water on her belt ; Man-eaters fall off and are drowned
Man-eaters become terns
Son turns into helldiver
Mother turns into robin
There was a settlement. Many people lived there. The chief had two
daughters.1 The chief said to the people, "When you eat meat bring the
bones over to me."
The people ate. At night they brought him a lot of bones in a bucket.
In the morning he said to his daughters, "Go make a hole in the ice,
throw the bones into the water, but don't look at them. Just put them
in, then go away."
For a while they did just as he said, but one day one of them thought,
"I wonder what that noise is, mu mu mu." She thought she would look.
.As soon as she poured the bones in she looked. The bones had become
dentalia. Soon the ice would be full of them. She told her sister about it.
They talked it over. "Let's go into the timber and make a house." They
did so. They took two sacks full of dentalia to their house. One said
to her sister, "Ask all the people for grass thread. You must say, 'My
father is asking for it.' "
The girl went about and asked for thread from house to house. The
people gave her a lot because they thought the chief wanted it. She took
it to their house in the timber and strung the dentalia. At night they
1 In this case the chief and his daughters were said to be Eagles.
166 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
would go home but as soon as they had eaten in the morning they went
to the house they had made. After a while the chief thought, "Why do
my daughters act that way? They never do any work, just go off and
play all day."
He decided to find out. He trailed them to their house. He sneaked
over and raised the mat which served for a door. He peeped in and saw
the two girls stringing dentalia. He went to see what they had done
with the bones. There were none. He was grieved. He went home and
called his tribe together
"I want to talk to you, my tribesmen. Not for my own, but for your
sake I asked you to bring me the bones. Now my own children have
stolen them. That is what grieves me so. It wasn't your children but
mine. I will desert them. We'll all go away."
He took off the covering of the house, pulled up the poles and said,
"That's where you used to live." Nothing was there. Houses and people
were gone.
At night the girls came back as usual. Every fireplace was dark. They
went in. "What is the matter? Are you asleep already?" There was not
a sound. The ashes were cold. Everyone was gone.
The next morning the girls packed up the dentalia and started off.
They came to where a river forked. They saw a house across the water.
They called, "Hu • • ■ !" A man came out.1 "Ferry us across," they asked.
He answered, "Uhu hu hu, my grandchildren, I have no canoe. There
is a ford. Come that way." They crossed. The younger girl said, "I'll
fix it."
She laid a dentalium on her chin and said, "If anyone gives us some-
thing to eat, put this in your mouth and pass the food through it like
a funnel."
They came to a place where the people were cooking blood and stirring
it. "We have nothing but this blood for food but you are welcome to it."
The blood was set near them. They ate, the older one passing it through
the funnel. The younger girl ate it in the usual way. When they had
finished eating they went on. The older got far ahead of her sister.
"Hurry, my younger sister," she called. The younger girl caught up
but immediately fell far behind. "My steps are not big enough to step
in your tracks."
Her sister came back and beat her. "Why didn't you do as I told you.
Now I'll take you back." They turned back. There was a ferryman.
"Ferry us over, we are going to stay here," they told him. He rowed
1 The ferryman, sqwa'xwmenxw, lives near riffles, stands on rocks in water.
When he dives he stays down so long one thinks he has drowned. He glitters like
a blackbird.
The Myths and Tales 167
toward them, but when he was still some distance from the shore he
said, "Come meet me."
"No, my moccasins will get all wet," said the older sister.
She reached over and ducked him in the water. His eyelids turned
back and became white. They threw him into the canoe. She took all the
dentalia herself and left.
After some time she heard many people travelling. Of the two girls
who had been deserted only one remained. Mudhen was sitting near to
the trail along which the girl was coming. She thought she would stay
there. When the girl came up Mudhen sat near the trail tanning a
buckskin. She folded it up and put it on her back. She decided to go
and tell the people the girl was coming. The girl had given her a dentalium
and that is why her nose is shaped like one. She ran and caught up with
the travellers. She was holding her nose, "Tso tsd na nd, I am going to
see her who was deserted," she said.
"Why are you holding your nose like that?" "The girl paid me."
"Let's see !" She let go her nose and they saw it was white and shaped
like a dentalium. She said, "She is coming."
The chief said to the men, "You sit around. She'll shake hands with
you all. Whichever one of you likes her can have her."
Mudhen ran out. She met the girl and said to her, "You are going
to shake hands. Whichever of the men you like you can have. My grand-
son is handsome. You pick him and go with him. I'll point him out to
you. When you shake hands with him pull him. If he doesn't like you
I'll push him."
The people sat waiting for her. She began to shake hands. Every
time Mudhen thought, "She'll take that one." But no ! She came to her
grandson, Redheaded Woodpecker. When the girl shook hands Wood-
pecker jerked back. Mudhen pushed him. "Go with her," she whispered.
He went with the girl and they left the camp. They came to another
settlement. The girl had a baby. She made a wide babyboard for it and
covered it all over with dentalia. They then dotted it with Woodpecker's
head feathers. Everyone liked the baby. Every morning the people took
it with them. When he cried they brought him back but left him just
long enough to nurse. One night they did not bring him back. The woman
was lonesome for her baby and went to the chief. He called, "Bring
back the baby. His mother is grieving for him."
They could not find the baby anywhere. Someone said, "At night some-
one stuck her hands in through the mats of the house. Her hands were
sticky. She must be the one who took it." That was the last time it was
seen. They found out that four man-eating sisters had the baby. Then
the mother took a sackful of dentalia and tracked the monsters. She
168 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
went far. As she was going along she stepped on a stick in the trail,
"aninininin, I was going to tell you some news, but you broke my leg."
"Oh, I am sorry. I'll fix it again."
She smoothed down the leg. Meadowlark, for it was she, was all right
again. Then she said, "I was waiting to tell you. You can't get your
child back; he is just like a wild animal." The girl gave Meadowlark
Bluebird's necklace as a reward. "You are near him now," she con-
tinued. "In the morning the Man-eaters leave home. They round up
the animals here. Your child just sits and kills what he wants of the
deer. They have a sweathouse. Early in the morning you hide in the
mud. There you will get your baby if you think you will live through it.
They might kill you. Grab him and do your best to hold on. Tell him,
'I am your mother.' "
The woman hid herself near the sweathouse. About two o'clock at
night she saw a light being carried to the sweathouse. She sat very near
the door. She saw her son who was now a man make a fire. It got redhot.
He put rocks in it. He went in feetfirst. She grasped him firmly around
the waist. He ran out, "ana 'ana' ' , something is hanging on to me. Who
are you?" The woman said, "I am your mother, be quiet, 1 am your
mother." "Why should I have more than four mothers?" "I'll show you
how it is. Be quiet !" "No. You are an ugly thing !" "Be quiet ! I am your
mother. It is true what I tell you."
He became quiet. She said, "You have not four mothers, but one.
Have you forgotten your real and only mother? My child, you are my
only son. One of those others calls you 'daughter's son,' another calls
you 'son's son.' That is not the way to call one's real child." "Which of
the four is my mother?" "I will keep on saying 'You are my child.' You
will never be anything else to me." He thought, "It must be true."
"When you were a baby our people liked you so they were always taking
you along with them. You were kidnapped. I trailed the kidnappers and
only now I found you."
"Let me go then. I will jump. If it is true you are my mother, you
will jump right in my tracks." "Don't run away from me." "No, I only
want to prove it."
She let him go. He jumped far. Exactly where he stepped she stepped.
Then he said, "Truly you seem to be my mother. Now we'll throw
water. If it does not spill, I will believe you are really my mother."
He threw a pailful of water. She threw it also and not a drop spilled
out. "Yes, it must be true. My mothers are not real people. They will
find out and will kill you. I'll sweat here. Then I'll go to them and say,
'You sleepyheads, you are still asleep.' I'll say, 'Eat!' After they have
eaten they will leave. Then I'll round up the animals. I'll sit over there.
The Myths and Tales 169
We'll make a dummy. We'll put my coat and hat on him and give him
an arrow. They'll see it and come back. You go to the house and eat lots
of meat. I'll come in and say, 'Get up, my mother !'
" 'What is the matter ? Your mother must have come/ they will say.
I will say, 'Have I a mother?' My mother's mother will say, 'I'm just
saying that.' My father's mother will say, 'Hurry up ! His mother must
have caught up with us. He never talks like that.' I will say again, 'Have
I a mother ?' Go on, you women. They will say, 'Boy, you sound guilty.' "
They fixed the dummy as if he were ready to shoot. The four Man-
eaters would make a pile of grass, then set fire to it and make a thick
smoke. They would fly up to disguise their tracks and light again. They
rounded up the animals toward the boy. They said, "Shoot!" He did
not shoot. The animals all ran away. One said, "I am going to teach you
a lesson." They caught up with him and hit him with a stick which went
all to pieces. "It was all in vain," they said.
They looked back. "I suspected his mother was behind all this," said
one. "He talked senseless this morning. There is no place we do not
know on the earth. We ought to be able to find her." They went back
to their house. They trailed the boy and his mother. The boy said, "They
are following us. Let's cross the water."
The mother untied her belt. She threw it across the water and they
walked across on it. She put it on again. The Man-eaters saw them cross-
ing. "You have tired us all out. We'll get you,"' they threatened. "You'll
die." The boy and his mother went on. "Where did you cross?" asked
the Man-eaters."
"Since you intend to murder us we won't help you across. Those who
are angry enough can find a way of their own. Untie your belts and cross
the way we did." One tried it but the belt floated. Again the Man-eaters
urged the woman to throw her belt down. "No, not when you are going
to kill us," she called back. "We are not going to kill you. We only want
to shake hands with your son and with you."
She untied her belt and threw it on the waves. They started to cross.
"No, its too wobbly!" The mother said, "Put rocks inside your clothes.
Then it will be steady." They filled their clothes with rocks. It was heavy,
but it stood firm. As they crossed the mother pulled her belt toward her.
"Stop pulling," they cried, but she kept on. In the middle they sank.
They came up on the other side as terns. "You'll no longer be man-
eaters. You'll be animals which live along the river. When people come
you will not fly up."
The mother and her son went into the hills at the edge of the cliffs.
The mother got thirsty and said, "Come get me some water." The boy
went down to the water and played, bathing and idling a long time.
170 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
"Come, I'm thirsty !" He brought the water. She drank. This happened
several times. Then the mother said to her son, "I want to talk to you.
Go fast through this timber. I feel as if I were going to die. We'll
separate now. It was good to see you again." He said, "All right !" "You
will be Helldiver, I will be Robin. You like the water too well to live
with me."
She cut up dentalia and threw them over him. The rest she threw
on herself. That is why robin has white streaks. Helldiver has streaks
also. She said, "When the wind blows, you will fly. You will make the
sound 'yaxa yaxa' } As for me, I will be a ghost. I will sit on a tree near
the houses of people and make my sound there when people have a death.
Since you like water you will live in water. As for me I will live in the
brush. Good day."
That is the end of the road.
The Kutenai interweave the two stories of The Girls Who Stole Den-
talia and the Story of Lynx (tale 9) into one myth :
Young Buck orders his relatives to throw the soft part of rib bones into the
water ; his sisters, Fawn and Young Doe, disobey and take the bones which have
turned into dentalia out of the water ; Buck takes all the people down a hole and
deserts his sisters ; he refuses to let them come down to him ; the girls cross a
river on stilts and enter Water Ousel's tipi ; Fawn swallows the blood Water
Ousel gives them to eat ; she misses a step while following in her sister's tracks
and gives birth to a fawn ; Young Doe sends her back to Water Ousel ; Fawn holds
Water Ousel under water to punish him ; Young Doe approaches a settlement ;
Rabbit waylays her on the trail and, when addressed as husband, takes her to his
grandmother, Frog, who hides her ; Lynx secretly impregnates her, she has a baby,
the three are deserted, Lynx kills many deer and the starving people return to
them ; Lynx's child is lent around among the people ; Toad and Owl stretch out
their hands for the child and kidnap it; Young Doe follows them, takes back her
boy and flees up a tree with him with the kidnappers in pursuit ; she calls her dog,
Grizzly Bear, who bites Toad and Owl and eats their dog, a mouse; Doe reaches
home with her child ; she and Lynx have another son and the two boys become the
sun and the moon (Dyer).
A Thompson myth similarly opens with an introduction resembling
that of the Coeur d'Alene story, but the adventures of the girls deserted
for their violation of a taboo proceed along different lines to culminate
once again, as in the Kutenai myth, in a direct parallel to the Coeur
d'Alene Lynx story.
A man instructs his two sisters not to visit his bathing place ; the girls disobey
and discover the dentalia which have come from needles from their brother's sponge ;
xWhen people hear helldiver they say wind is going to blow.
The Myths and Tales 171
they take the dentalia ; their brother leaves them and goes to the lower world ; the
girls are unable to descend, for they break the taboo and open their eyes ; their
brother sends them to their aunt's home, the younger girl breaks the taboo and
stops off at Coyote's house, where she eats and becomes pregnant; she is deserted
by her older sister; Elk, the older girl's aunt, overtakes her in a race with young
men and hides her from them; Lynx spits down upon the girl and impregnates
her (MAM 12:213).
In a briefer Thompson version the brother takes pity upon his deserted
sisters who are unable to descend to him in the lower world and returns
to live with them (MAM 12:373).
A third Thompson variant leaves no basis for comparison with the
Coeur d'Alene model, except in breaking the taboo and desertion :
An older sister, annoyed by many suitors, sets out with her younger sister for
her grandmother's house; Coyote makes it so cold, the younger girl insists on en-
tering his house four times to warm herself ; Coyote impregnates her ; her sister
leaves her behind; the elder girl's grandmother hides her granddaughter from the
men who are racing for her; Lynx impregnates the girl (MAFLS 6:36).
The element of drowning an enemy while he is crossing the water in
pursuit of his prey has a wide distribution. A typical example from
Thompson mythology in which, as in the Coeur d'Alene model, a belt is
the medium for the crossing, is recorded bellow.
A youth, fleeing with the daughter of a man of magic power, throws his belt
down and crosses the lake upon it ; the girl's parents follow in pursuit ; the girl
gives the belt a twist and her parents are thrown into the water; they turn into
ducks (MAM 12:291). In a variant, the boy draws in the belt so that the girl's
father is unable to cross (MAM 12:383).
Beyond the story of the theft of Young Doe's child in the Kutenai
myth outlined above, no further duplications of the Coeur d'Alene kid-
napping episode were found in the myth bodies under consideration in
this study. The account of the theft of a baby by Lion and Crane as told
in an Upper Chehalis myth takes a different turn. After the boy has
escaped with Crane's assistance from his captor, Lion, he arrives in
heaven; here he obtains a wife and becomes the father of twins born
stuck together ; he eventually returns to earth to his mother and brother.
Bluejay separates the twins who die (MAFLS 27:83).
25. Thunder
Thunder kidnaps hunter's wife
Hunter looks for wife
Four men give him needles
172 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
He climbs cliff with aid of needles, Chipmunk, Gray Squirrel, Squirrel and feathers
Finds wife in Thunder's home
Woman hides husband
Thunder sleeps
Woman escapes with husband, taking Thunder's shirts
Thunder helpless without shirts
There was a man who would go away in the daytime. In the evening
he would come back. His wife was visited by Thunder when he was
gone. One day he said, "I'm coming for you." He took her. In the eve-
ning the husband came back. His wife was gone. He sat down and
thought, "I wonder where she went."
After I don't know how many days he thought, "I'll go look for my
wife." He went. Far he went. He came to a house and went in. He was
said to, "Ah! Are you looking for your wife?" "Yes!" "You poor
thing! You'll never see her again. Thunder took her." "All right! I'm go-
ing to search for her."
The owner of the house gave him four small needles. "Go in that
direction," he directed. He went. He came to a house and went in. "Are
you looking for your wife?" he was asked. "Yes." "You are to be pitied,
you'll never see her again." "All right ! I am looking for her."
This one also gave him four needles. He told the man, "My older
brother will point it out to you." He went on, far he went. He came
to a house and the same conversation was held. He was given four
needles.
A fourth time it happened. "Thunder has your wife. You'll never
catch him," he was warned. "They gave you those things for nothing.
Go on. Not far from here you'll see a cliff. There use the needles. If it
wastes away do not leave it. The cliff is high. If you could climb to the
top you might see your wife, but you will never get there." "All right !
I'll go."
He saw the cliff. He took out a needle and stuck it into the rock. He
took out another and stuck it in, and thus with a third and a fourth.
Then they were all used and he saw no woman. Now there was nothing
against the rock.1
Soon Chipmunk hopped into sight, patatsatatsatatsat, up the cliff she
leaped. "Please help me get to my goal," begged the man. "Take me to
the top. Have pity on me. My fingernails are all worn down to the
flesh." She said, "Hold on to my tail." He held on to her tail. She
leaped up, patatsatatsatatsat. They had not gone far when she com-
plained of her fingernails. The man took out a needle. Then Chipmunk
ran away.
1 The needles must have made a magic ladder.
The Myths and Tales 173
Soon he saw something against the rock. It was Squirrel leaping along.
"Take pity on me. See how my fingernails are worn down." "Take hold
of my tail." He took her tail. She leaped among the rocks. She had not
gone far when she said, "My fingernails are worn close." He took out a
needle and begged piteously. This time Squirrel came leaping, nal nat,
and told him to hold her tail. Thus they climbed until she was worn out.
He took out a needle and hung back. Soon feathers came. He said to
them, "Help me!" "Long ago you should have asked me. Take hold
of me."
He took hold. They were blown to the rock and touched it, then they
were blown away again. Four times they blew out and back.1 Then they
were at the top. The feathers said, "Go ! The rest you can climb alone.
The one who is there is not a person. He will kill you. You will see all
the trees broken from lightning. That is because he goes hunting and
when he returns at night and comes into the house lightning hits the
trees. The woman is there. He takes her by the arms and throws her
aside and says, 'Your husband is on earth.' Then he digs and digs in
vain. At last he will be quiet. All right then. Go! You may see your
wife."
He went, he went far. He saw splintered trees, rocks broken in two
and at last a house. He went in and saw his wife sitting there. "You. are
dead. No longer are you a person." She said, "Sit down. Eat well. If
you die it will be good. It is easy to know when he is coming. The food
is ready for him." He finished eating.
The woman said, "We'll make a hole under the bed. You sit in the
hole. If he says, 'It is not true there is no one in the hole,' and throws
me aside and digs, just keep still. After his excitement he will quiet
down. Then I'll cook. We'll eat. Then he'll talk nicely. He'll laugh and
tell me stories. At night we'll sleep. I'll tell stories, I'll talk and laugh
until he is asleep. I'll tickle him to prove he is fast asleep. Then I'll dig
you out. You come out and we'll go away."
Just as Thunder was going to sleep the woman tickled him. But he
was snoring xu xu xu. She jumped up and dug out her husband. She
said to him, "When he goes to bed he hangs up his shirt." All the old
shirts were hanging on the wall. The woman took all of them, old and
new, along. She threw the old ones away, saying, "They are all torn."
They ran to the edge of the cliff. The woman put on the good shirt.
(Interpolation by informant, "I don't know, I think her husband hung
on her belt.") They flew. They went to the earth. She took off the shirt,
told it, "Be torn in pieces," and threw it away. They went to their house.
1The feathers were so light they were blown in so they touched the cliff, then
out again.
174 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Meanwhile Thunder slept. He woke. The woman was gone. He got
up and saw the hole. He said, "There's no place I don't know. You are
going to die." He went to get his shirt. It was gone. The old ones were
gone as well as the new one. He flopped down. He cried.
The end of the trail.
In the numerous myths of neighboring tribes concerned with the kid-
napping of a man's wife, including the Thunder Bird stories, there is
no development of plot corresponding to that of the Coeur d'Alene myth,
where Thunder is the kidnapper.
An isolated example of the ascent by means of feathers, placed in a
different setting, may be noted among the Chilcotin, two examples of
sky people's helplessness when deprived of their clothes are found in
Kathlamet and Quinault mythology :
A boy wishes to reach the sky in order to get wives from the sun; the boy has
his sister blow on a pile of duck feathers, which thereupon carry him aloft (the boy
obtains the sun's two daughters for wives ; however he forgets to thank an old
woman helper in the sky so his wives are taken away from him again) {Chilcotin
MAM 4:24).
The Earth people attack the Southwest Winds in the sky; the Sky Women are
unable to flee, for they cannot put on their coats ; the coat-strings have been cut ;
the Earth People kill the Sky Women {Kathlamet BBAE 26:70).
The Earth People attack the Sky People in order to recover Raven's daughter
who had wished for a star husband and awakened in the sky ; the Sky Women
cannot fasten on their clothes, in which to run away, for the girdles and fastenings
have been cut ; they are obliged to stay (the Earth People retreat down the arrow
chain with the girl; it breaks; they are left hanging in the sky as stars) {Quinault
MAM 4:109).
26. Waterbird Contests for Woman (Gift Test)
Waterbird is insulted by girl
Girl gives him ring and handkerchief and sets date for his return
Waterbird forgets date
Waterbird hurries to girl's house and becomes dish-washer
Girl tests suitors by handkerchief and ring
Waterbird becomes girl's husband
Waterbird does all the work
Four rattlesnakes steal girl
Four Thunders burst Snakes' rock and destroy Snakes
Girl restored to Waterbird
Waterbird lived with his mother. One morning he went along the river
looking for salmon. Suddenly he was said to, "The chief is looking for
The Myths and Tales 175
a rotten salmon." A woman on the other side of the river said it. Water-
bird was very much ashamed. The next day the same thing happened.
He thought, "I'll go get her." He went and found she was very pretty.
She gave him a ring and a handkerchief, both of which were very un-
usual and expensive. He took them and put them in his pocket with the
corner of the handkerchief showing. She set a day when he was to
return to her.
He forgot all about what she told him. After about two weeks or
more his mother said to him, "They are having a celebration. I think
they must have taken your girl." Then he remembered what the girl
had told him and was so excited he nearly cried. He got ready and
walked all night. He came to her house. The people were showing their
things. The chief said, "Tomorrow absolutely all of you come !" The
next day all got ready. Waterbird said nothing. He had become a kitchen
boy and was washing dishes for the cook. The people all showed their
handkerchiefs and rings but none was the right one. Then the cook said,
"I have a dishwasher who stayed home." The people talked over the
matter. "Go call him!" they said. "Tell him to bring his handkerchief
and ring."
After that they all displayed their goods, but the girl's handkerchief
was not among them. Then Waterbird stood up. My ! he was handsome.
Strange he looked, not at all like the dishwasher. No one recognized him.
He took out the handkerchief and gave it to the woman. "This is mine,"
she said, "You may go now. This is the one I will take for my partner."
Waterbird took the woman home to his mother. In about two weeks
he got tired because he had to do all the work. The girl did nothing.
He cooked, fetched wood and did everything. One day he said to her,
"Go bring in the wood. It is already tied up ready to pack."
He went out. When he came in again to look for her she was gone.
Four rattlesnakes had taken her away. He went into the house, lay
down, covered his head with a blanket and mourned four days. Then
he said to his mother, "Go get bark from a pine tree and tie up four
bundles of pine bark."
She brought back the four parcels of pinebark. Then he got up, washed
his face, took his little coat, went out and waved it giving a warwhoop.
Four times he waved it. Thunder spoke warara in the sky and four
Thunders came down. They were his mother's brothers. "Why did you
call us?" "I want you to eat," he said and gave each a parcel of pine
bark.1
1The Thunders must like pine bark because Lightning peels off the bark at a
certain season of the year. Lightning and Thunder are the same.
176 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
"My ! Thank you !" they said because they liked it. They laughed.
They were glad. When they had finished eating Waterbird said, "I want
you to get my wife back for me. The rattlesnakes took her." The eldest
Thunder said, "We know it, but it is impossble. They live in a rock."
Then Waterbird cried and begged, "Please get her back for me." The
youngest Thunder said, "Yes, let's get her for him."
They took Waterbird to the door of the Snake's house. There the girl
was, tied with a chain under her arms and fastened to the wall with a
lock. The Snakes were warned, "Waterbird is coming after the woman."
"No, no, it is not easy to give her up." The father snake said, "Give her
back to Waterbird. His uncles are awful."
Snake refused. Then the eldest Thunder rose and talked, war war.
He struck the rock. Pieces of the rock flew off. The Snakes laughed. The
second Thunder rose and spoke war war. Parts of the cave door broke
off. Again the Snake laughed. The third Thunder went up and spoke.
The Snakes' mother and father cried and begged, "Go give her back to
Waterbird." Then the youngest Thunder put Waterbird close to the
door and threatened, "If you don't give her up you'll die." "No," they
refused and laughed mockingly.
Then he went up. He struck everywhere so the rock crumbled. The
Snakes were killed. Only the woman was left. Waterbird took her and
the Thunders took them all back to his mother's house. They told him,
"Now you do not need to watch her any more. Let her go." Waterbird
said to her, "Bathe for four days because you smell awful." She did
so and then she was his alone.
That is the end.
There are no parallels for this Coeur d'Alene myth with its borrowed
European elements in its entirety. Two examples from Shuswap myth-
ology, similarly derived from European folklore, are significant for com-
parative purposes. Each contains the test element as a method of
identification.
Alamer rescues two girls from a chief who had stolen them; the girls give
Alamer a ring and a silk handkerchief; hostile chiefs set Alamer adrift; Fox helps
Alamer ashore; Alamer produces the ring and handkerchief and claims the two
girls ; the hostile chiefs are killed ; Alamer takes one girl for his wife, his helper
receives the other (MAM 4:732).
Sna'naz rescues the chief's daughters from Seven Heads, the Cannibal, and cuts
out Seven Head's seven tongues ; a slave finds Seven Heads dead, takes credit for
the victory and claims the hand of the girl ; the girl examines her suitors, but fails
to identify her rescuer among them ; she recognizes an ugly stranger sitting in the
The Myths and Tales 177
kitchen; the stranger, Sna'naz, produces the seven tongues; Sna'naz becomes the
girl's husband (MAM 4:755).
There is however in a Kutenai Thunder Bird story a close parallel
for the last un-European part of the Coeur d'Alene myth, the theft of
the hero's wife by the rattlesnakes. The correspondence to be noted be-
tween these two narratives is especially satisfying because of the
tendency of the one myth to elucidate the vague points in the other,
and vice versa :
A boy, whose father had disappeared, takes for a wife a chief's elder daughter
who said she would never marry; he is warned not to have her do outside work;
one day the girl fetches water for her husband and disappears; the boy has his
grandmother prepare for visitors ; he dresses up and paints himself ; three spirits
similarly decorated arrive ; lightning darts from their pipe smoke, each of the three
disappears ; they await the boy on a mountain top ; they help him to open up a
large rock ; he sees his wife inside surrounded by rattlesnakes ; the spirits burst
the snakes' rock with their lightning; the boy recovers his wife and becomes her
boss ; the girl had had the spirit of the rattlesnake and it was that which had told
her not to marry (Dyer).
27. Water Monster Woman
A boy pokes out eyes of children
Boy and his sister deserted
Boy pokes out eyes of animals
Sister leaves him
Boy fishes up abnormal fish, Water Monster Woman who eats people
His grandfather, Fox, warns him
Boy and family visit Water Woman's under-water country
Water Monsters try to kill guests
Four bushes save visitors from drowning ; they return home safely
There were children. They would go far away from the other people
and play in the morning. A boy saw them. He would quarrel with them
and,' for no reason, become angry and poke their eyes with something
sharp he had. Then each child had only one eye. His father said to the
people, "It is really too bad. You must grieve, you who have children.
Let us leave him with no one but his sister."
The boy had not poked out his sister's eyes. The father told the sister
to take her brother to be bitten by Grizzly. She went with her brother.
The people left. The boy sat down. The girl drove the animals toward
him, Grizzly Bear, Black Bear, Wolf and Cougar. The boy poked out
their eyes one after another. All the animals were one-eyed, all but
Grizzly.
178 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
The girl ran home. Grizzly ran straight toward the boy who poked
his eye out. As Grizzly was dying he called to the girl, "Is this the one
you mean?" Grizzly had sandals of wood. The boy sat and wondered
where his sister had gone. He went to find her. He found tracks which
showed she was running. He thought, "If I ever get to the house I'll
punch her eye out too. She's absolutely no good."
He came to the house and went in. She was not there. He went into
the neighbor's houses but she was not there. He sat down and cried. At
night he went to the sweathouse and stayed. In the morning Magpie
suddenly came to the door. He punched out her eye, skinned her and
hung the skin by the door to dry. He did this to ten magpies. He ate
the meat. The skins he sewed together and made himself a blanket. He
was glad and danced.
A monster who had two daughters said to the youngest, "Go, get him
for our food." The boy got hungry. He thought, "It's true there are
many fish in the river. I'll fish and get some." He fished. He got many
fish but all were abnormal ; some were halves, some quarters, all were
queer. Once again he pulled the line. It resisted ; a woman came up. She
sat there with the hook in her mouth. The boy was frightened and ran.
He ran fast and came to a row of, houses. He ran into the last one. His
mother's father, Fox, lived there. He told Fox, "I had a bite, it was a
woman. She was sitting there when I ran back." Fox said, "Your luck
has changed. You will have bad luck." He called the people to go with
him to see the woman. When they came up to her old man Fox said to
her, "You are enjoying yourself. You are coveting a person (to eat)."
Then he broke off the hook. The grandfather told the boy, "You will
stay here always." The boy and Water Monster Woman had a child. He
grew large and fat. Then the woman thought, "Even if they are fat
they are no more than just enough for my father and mother to eat."
She pretended she was angry. She lay there and would not talk. The boy
said to his grandfather, "She's angry. I wonder why she won't talk." He
answered, "She has gathered enough people to eat, that's why."
He said to the woman, "Well, we'll all go with you to your family."
She was pleased. She got up and cooked. When they had finished eating
they started. The woman took the child. Fox's daughter grabbed him
away from his mother. The canoe was launched. In front sat the water
monster child, next was Fox's daughter, then the boy and Fox.
Just as they were starting into the Water Monster Boy looked back
at the others. Fox was told, "He is looking back" (this sounds mean).
"Hurry !" he said. They dived, the canoe with all its occupants, just as
they were. Four times it dived. Then they came safely to a house. My !
they were surprised and frightened. Everything was ice from the river
The Myths and Tales 179
to the house. It was very slippery. Water Monster Boy ran up the beach
and into the house. The others were wondering how to get up when
Fox's daughter sprinkled the ice with red paint. Then they could walk.
They went into the house.
"Give me the child," said one of the women. "No, let me take it,"
said its grandmother. The mother said, "No, no !"
The monster's father said they would eat. Pitch was lighted and put
on the fire but, since the wood was from trees belonging to the poplar
family it was wet, so it was dark. For a while the father waited. Then
he thought, "They're dead. Our guests are full."
He opened the door, went out and brought light in. The Foxes were
sitting there eating. In the afternoon about sunset the father proposed
to go fishing with torches. Fox's daughter was sent for pitch. She
brought in four bundles. Fox went out and hired four bushes, one
whose branches were tangled, one with braided branches, the service-
berry and the thornberry, to act as his harpoonbearers (sic!).
Fox and the boy went in the canoe. Fox's daughter stayed home with
the little one. They speared fish. All were abnormal; they were only
halves or quarters. Suddenly in the midst of them was Water Monster
Woman, the daughter of Water Monster. She said to them, "Don't spear
me, I might drag you down." "We're not looking for such as you."
They cursed her, then speared her. They were all engulfed in a whirl-
pool. Fox's daughter called out, "You smart talker, you Fox!" The
serviceberry bush broke, the braided one held them up, when it gave out
the thornberry bush helped, just the torch and the harpoon were in
sight. It broke and Fox thought, "We're done f or ! If we are not saved
we die." The tangled bush came to the rescue.
A monster came to the top of the water. Monster Woman was crying,
she was ordered to stop. "Soon they will bring him back, then we will
kill them all. Keep still and do not look at them."
They cut off the hands and feet and took them ashore in the canoe.
When they got to the shore Fox's daughter was sitting in the canoe. Fox
said to the boy, "Go, throw their hands and feet in." He threw them in.
Then he ordered the people, "Take them, eat your dirty filth, you horrid
things."
The old Monster became angry. The others became tired following
them. Only the daughter followed. Then they came to the shore. They
turned the canoe over. They looked around. Soon Water Monster's
daughter came to the surface. Fox said, "Go back home or we might
kill you too."
That's the end of the trail.
180 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
A number of close parallels may be found for the isolated elements
of the Coeur d'Alene myth and, in a Kutenai and a Nez Perce story at
least, the combination of these elements resembles the Coeur d'Alene
whole in the visit to the under-water country :
Fox and Coyote win Salmon's sister in gambling with Salmon; the Salmon
Woman becomes Coyote's son's wife; Fox accompanies Coyote, Coyote's son, Sal-
mon Woman and their child on a visit to the salmon country ; the woman tries twice
to drown them but they are saved in a bladder belonging to Fox; Fox throws to-
bacco on the shore so they can ascend ; the salmon people try to kill the guests by
manuring and smoking them ; Coyote dodges two people striking at him with ham-
mers ; Fox kills Salmon ; when Fox throws Salmon's head overboard to the pur-
suers, his party escapes {Kutenai BBAE 59:153).
Young Coyote defeats Sea Monster Boy at hoop spearing and wins his sister for
a wife ; Fox accompanies Young Coyote, Sea Monster Woman, their baby and Old
Coyote downstream ; Sea Monster Woman tries to drown her companions but they
are saved in a pipe belonging to Fox; Young Coyote spears Sea Monster and his
brother-in-law ; he throws his spear at Sea Monster Woman ; a flood pursues the
party, until they throw Sea Monster Woman's baby into the water to her (Nes
Perce CUCA 25:48).
In an episode of the Bella Coola Raven cycle Raven fishes up a large fish which
turns into a woman; Raven marries her with the promise not to look at another
woman ; he catches much salmon ; he looks after a pretty girl ; his wife leaves with
all the salmon (IS 246).
A sea story of the Bella Bella tells of difficulties encountered under
the water, comparable to those in the Coeur d'Alene myth :
Four men in a boat anchor on the roof of Komokoa's house; Komokoa fetches
them down ; they are warned by Mouse Woman not to eat the food served them ;
they paint their boat with a magic potion so that the sea-monster will not swallow
it; all the fish enter the house filling it up with water which the snapping-door
monster sucks in ; the four men throw poison in the water and escape ; they are
carried up to the water's surface by three whales (IS 238).
The eye-gouging episode of the Coeur d'Alene myth is widely dis-
tributed in diverse myths of other tribes, numbering the Tlingit, Tsim-
shian, Kwakiutl, Haida and Coast Salish — Upper Chehalis, Shokomish
and Cowlitz:
A man sees a woman floating with two children on the lake; he takes one child
home with him ; the child picks out people's eyes ; a woman kills the boy and be-
comes the creature, the sight of whom makes people wealthy [the child disappears
at daylight; only one sick woman and her child survive] (Tlingit BBAE 39:292,
174; ARBAE 31:948).
The Myths and Tales 181
The son of a prince and a woman of the lake pluck out people's eyes ; the prince
returns the child to the lake woman and receives from her gambling-sticks which
bring him much wealth ; the lake woman gives the princess a garment of wealth, the
sight of which makes people wealthy; the lake woman becomes part-fish, part-
woman (Tsimshian ARBAE 31:156).
A woman marries a water spirit; the child from this union kills people and
plucks out and roasts their eyes ; the boy's uncle kills him ; his ashes turn into
mosquitoes and small flies (Kwakiutl IS 164).
Half Rock Being (a man in the corner of the house) sees Raven in the skin of
a child of the heavenly chief's daughter knead and eat something; the following
morning the inhabitants of four towns have each lost an eye; Raven, the eye-
gouger, is put into his cradle and dropped into the water [Raven is thrown down
to earth] (Haida BBAE 29:111, 143; ARBAE 31:948).
In an Upper Chehalis myth the daughter of the girl whom the One-Legged Man
carried off pulls out a child's eye at each of four places and is sent downstream in
a bucket in each case; the fifth time a giant takes her for his wife (MAFLS
27:121). In a Skokotnish version the daughter of the girl taken home by the Sharp-
tailed Man scratches people's eyes out and is paddled out to sea by the Crows in
their canoe; the girl, deserted on an island, helps the slave, Coon, dig roots and
marries Coon's master (MAFLS 27:371). In a Cowlitz myth Samlic's wife is car-
ried away by a dangerous being, a cloud ; she has a daughter by him who five times
tears out a child's eye and eats it; the fifth time the girl rises as a small cloud
(MAFLS 27:196).
In each of these versions, with the exception of the incident taken
from the Haida Raven cycle, the eye-gouging child is the offspring of an
unusual, mythical parent, in the majority of cases one associated with
the water.
28. Little Mosquito
The youngest of five mosquitoes receives warning of enemy's presence and hides in
sweathouse
Little Mosquito's four brothers are burned to death by Geese
Little Mosquito deserted
Little Mosquito refuses blood mixed with camas
Geese feed Little Mosquito blood
Little Mosquito flies against pine needles and bursts
Mosquitoes are no longer to be man-eaters
There lived long ago a family of four mosquitoes.1 The oldest ones
always went hunting but the youngest stayed home. They never ate any
1 This happened at Coeur d'Alene where the trail is dense with undergrowth and
full of mosquitoes.
182 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
meat but only blood which was kept in the paunch of a deer. The oldest
brothers were tired one time and sent the youngest for the paunch of
blood which they had hung on a tree. As he ran along he heard someone
say, "Kill the little mosquito because he likes blood." He ran fast and
got the paunch of blood. As he returned with it on his back he heard
someone say, "Do not kill him right now." Whereupon he ran all the
faster. On the other side of the road he heard, "Don't frighten him now,
you will scare his brothers." When he came back all out of breath it
was dark. His grandmother asked him what was the matter. He said, "I
saw something." The brothers said, "What did you see?" He said,
"Someone said, 'Kill the youngest mosquito.' " They said, "You are
lying. You are hearing your own breath, that is what you are scared
about. Eat blood so you will grow fast," but he did not eat.
After eating the brothers slept. Little Mosquito went out of the house
into the sweathouse. When it was very late he heard sounds as of
burning and saw that the house was in flames. He was sad. He heard
the bodies of his four brothers and his grandmother burst one after
another.
After a while the geese who burned the house began to talk to one
another. "I told you not to tell him you would kill him," said one, "let's
look in the sweathouse for him. Where else could he be hiding? Break
off a branch of the thornbush and swing it around in the sweathouse."
Little Mosquito took some red paint and mixed it with spittle in his
little spoon. Every time the thorn branch passed him he smeared it with
the paint. When the enemy took it out they said, "It is stained with blood.
Now we have killed them all." So they left.
When it became light Little Mosquito went to the house. He saw
the bones of his brothers and cried. He was all alone. He had nothing
to eat, no home, no blanket. One whole day he did nothing but weep.
Finally he stopped and went to the lake and washed his face. He thought,
"If I stay I'll die because everything is gone. At night I will surely
die of cold. If I row away it will be the same. If I go I'll die, if I stay
I'll die."
He reached into the water and drew out a monster. He cut open the
throat and made a boat1 of it. He got in and paddled, crying all the
time. The enemy heard him suddenly stop crying. One said to the
others, "My! you didn't kill him." One of them said, "Here is some
blood. He likes that." They said to him, "Here is blood mixed with
cooked camas, come and have some to eat." He said, "I never ate it."
One of the geese said, "He doesn't like the mixture, give him pure
blood. That is what he eats." They called to him, "It isn't mixed." He
1 There is a part of a fish monster's throat or head which looks like a canoe.
The Myths and Tales 183
rowed toward them. They said, "Here are four buckets full of blood."
Then he rowed to shore and tied up his boat.
They set the four pails full of blood before him and he ate every bit.
Then the enemy told him, "The children pushed your canoe away." Then
they stuffed the crevices of the house with pine needles. He said, "Tell
the children to bring my canoe back to shore." They said, "No, go get
it yourself."
After Little Mosquito had eaten he stood up. A goose was standing
in the doorway. He said, "Move away," but the person remained stand-
ing. He flew up to the hole to get out, but he ran into the pine needles
and burst. The blood flew all over and a whole lot of mosquitoes flew
out. The enemy said to him, "Go, don't be man-eaters any more. You
can annoy people. When they slap you you will die. But don't kill people."
Parallel myths are included in the mythology of the Kutenai, Nez
Perce and the Cowlitz.
Mosquito's three elder brothers send him to fetch water ; he hears enemies about
and warns his brothers; he hides in the sweathouse; his brothers are killed by the
enemy; Mosquito is deserted; he makes a canoe and starts downriver; he refuses
bitterroot, suscatoon and chokecherries, at three enemy camps along the way; at a
fourth camp he is fed blood; his belly swells up; he jumps into the pine branches
separating his boat from the shore and the pine needles cause his stomach to burst ;
he shall no longer be a man-eater but a harmless mosquito {Kutenai Dyer).
Mosquito goes along; he refuses to eat chokecherries and serviceberries at the
two towns he passes ; he comes to a third town and eats much blood there ; sticks
pierce his belly and he; dies ; mosquitoes fly out of him {Kutenai BBAE 59 :25) .
Mosquito bites his grandmother to death and sucks up her blood ; he refuses root
food ; Coyote feeds him five pails full of blood ; he stumbles on grass burned to
stubble and bursts open; mosquitoes no longer bite to kill {Nes Perce CUCA
25:13).
Mosquito, a dangerous being, refuses duck, wild goose, rabbit and deer-broth
stew ; five men feed him a potful of their blood, then poke him in the stomach ; he
bursts; a mosquito just sucks people ever since {Cowlitz MAFLS 27:213).
The transformation of the ashes of slain man-eaters into mosquitoes
is a common device; one of numerous typical examples may be cited
from Kwakiutl mythology where the son of a water spirit slays all the
people he meets ; his uncle finally kills him, burns his corpse and blows
upon the ashes, transforming them into mosquitoes (IS 164).
184 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
29. Grizzly and His Brother s-in-Law
Grizzly Bear has three brothers-in-law ; the two elder hate him, the youngest likes
him
Grizzly's elder brothers-in-law plan to kill him
Grizzly's youngest brother-in-law warns him and saves him
All are transformed into the Great Bear constellation
Grizzly Bear lived with his wife and three brothers-in-law. The
youngest of the brothers-in-law liked Grizzly, the others hated him.
They thought it was mean the way he bit people and became angry so
easily. So the two brothers-in-law said, "Let's kill him. What's he after
anyway? Probably something to eat."
They tracked him. Then they saw him standing. They took up their
places, first the oldest, then the second and the youngest, last. The eldest
gave orders, "All get ready so if one shoots all will shoot together."
They went on, the two oldest close together ahead, but the youngest
lagged behind at a distance because he liked Grizzly. When they came
close the first two got ready to shoot at him. The youngest watched and
just as the string was about to twang he said, "My brother-in-law ! You
are going to be shot."
Grizzly turned around and just as he was warned he made the noise
of transformation.
They all went to the sky as stars and now we see them up there.
(The four stars which form the cup of the Great Dipper are Grizzly's
feet. The northern one moved and made the track formed by it and the
star immediately above it. The three stars of the handle are the brothers-
in-law, the one nearest the cup is the one who liked Grizzly best.)
Transformation into stars may be found also in the mythology of the
Thompson. In a footnote to the Thompson myth Teit makes the state-
ment : All the Shuswap and Thompson tell stories of the transformation
of hunters or men and a bear into the constellation the Great Bear
(MAFLS 11:16).
The Coeur d'Alene Grizzly Bear-Brother-in-law introduction to the
transformation has no parallel in the Thompson myth, which is rather
the typical concluding episode of a Transformer cycle — the Trans-
formers, having completed their work, are transformed into something
permanent (usually in the Northwest into a rock; cp. tale 8) :
Qwa'qtqwetl and his three brothers (three Black Bear hunters) finish their trans-
forming tasks and, accompanied by their dog, hunt a bear in the sky (the eldest
brother hangs back afraid) ; the entire group is transformed by the youngest brother
into the Grizzly Bear constellation (MAM 12:224; ARBAE 31:615).
The Myths and Tales 185
In Chilcotin mythology three brothers try to trick their grandmother ; she trans-
forms them into stars ; their dogs and the moose they were tracking may be seen
with them in the sky (MAM 4:31).
30. Muskrat Trespasses
Muskrat disobeys his grandmother by going in a forbidden direction
Otter clubs Muskrat
Muskrat's grandmother treats him
Muskrat kills Otter's sister, Mink
Otter comes for revenge
Muskrat feigns sickness and Otter leaves believing him to be bedridden
Muskrat's grandmother sings song of triumph
Otter pursues Muskrat and his grandmother
Muskrat and his grandmother escape
Muskrat and his grandmother lived together. One day the grandmother
saw Muskrat was trespassing when he went for food. The next morning
she said to him, "When you eat grass go this way (pointing). Don't go
over the way you have been eating." Every morning she warned him
this way. One day he thought, "I wonder why she always keeps at me
this way. I wonder what is over the other way."
He went the forbidden way and found much grass. "The grass is
so good here, I guess that is why she forbade me going this way." Soon
he met an Otter. "I drive people out of here." "It isn't your land." "It
isn't yours either." They argued and Otter clubbed Muskrat until his
head was all flat. Then he threw him into a canoe.
When Muskrat's grandmother came back he was gone. She thought,
"He must have been trespassing again." Then she heard him coming,
ana' ana' ana'. She saw a canoe coming. He was lying down in it and
paddling. He came in. His head was so swollen that his eyes and ears
could hardly be seen. His cheeks were all puffed up. His grandmother
said, "I told you not to go that way. It's your own fault you got beaten
up so badly."
He lay down and she sprinkled his head. A few days later he was well
and said to his grandmother, "Get my canoe ready. I am going to kill
Otter." "No, you might get killed. Then I would be all alone."
She coaxed him in vain. He got into his canoe and paddled to Otter's
house. There were four of them. He saw their sister who was Mink
making a hole near the water to make herself a bathing place. When she
had the hole made just big enough to sit in she put hot stones in the
water. She had leaned her baby in its babyboard up against a tree. Musk-
rat sneaked up and shot Otter's sister just as she was going to get into
her bath. She fell headfirst into the water and died. Then Muskrat rowed
186 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
home as fast as he could go. His grandmother was waiting for him. As
soon as he came in sight she exclaimed, "Oh ! Thanks be ! He is alive."
"I killed Otter's sister," he told her. "There's no hope for us now,"
said the grandmother. Then Muskrat said, "Make a hole through the
bushes like a tunnel beginning where you are sitting. Then go through
there and you will see a lake." The old woman did so. Then she came
back. "Tie up my head and keep sprinkling it for me," he ordered next.
The Otter brothers kept looking for their sister to return with her
child. They heard the baby cry. Then said one, "Why doesn't she look
after her child ? Go tell her to take it up." One went to see what was the
matter. He found her dead. He reported to his brothers, "She's dead,
shot with an arrow." They went and looked. "Muskrat must have done
that," they said. The youngest said, "I am going to kill him."
He came to Muskrat's house. The grandmother was watching. "Here
they come. Let's get ready." When the Otter arrived the grandmother
was sitting there quietly sprinkling Muskrat's head. He was lying near
with his head all tied up. Otter came in with a stick. "You must be the
one who killed our sister." "Why how could that be?" said the grand-
mother. "He is pathetic. He always lies there just like that." "Who
could it have been then ?" "Oh, sprinkle my head, grandmother," moaned
Muskrat. Otter thought, "It must be true. He never gets up." He left.
Then Muskrat said, "Keep watching him until just as he rounds the
curve, then dance and sing."
The grandmother watched. Just as Otter got out of sight she began
to sing and dance, "Uhu ■ uhu ■ - , Otters' only sister was killed by a
little arrow. She fell headfirst into the water." Otter kept on thinking,
"Who could have killed our sister?"
He rowed back again. He heard the song more clearly. He saw the
grandmother run into the house. She ran into the hole she had made and
covered it over. He could not find her. He looked around outside. Then
he went in, lifted the cover and saw the hole. He reached down into it,
but the muskrats had filled it with dirt as they went through. Otter fol-
lowed as far as the timber but he had to give up as the hole became too
small for him.
The end of the road.
In Shuswap and Coast Salish mythology are found examples of myths
which are on the whole comparable, though they vary in specific details :
In the Shuswap myth Muskrat kills a girl who refuses to marry him ; Muskrat
sings a song revealing himself as the killer ; the people pursue Muskrat who escapes
through a hole in the ice (MAM 4:680).
The Myths and Tales 187
In the Coast Salish story it is Wren who kills Otter. The motivation lies not in
a trespassing incident but in Otter's theft of Wren's fish. When the people discover
Wren to be the killer, he is invited to a gathering. In the Upper Chehalis version
Wren escapes, Bluejay catching Snail by mistake (MAFLS 27:31). In the Hump-
tulip account Wren is kicked into the fire; his grandmother blows on his cinders
and he becomes a wren; she turns into a spider (MAFLS 27:326).
31. Toad Saves Children
Lazy daughter of chief, her baby brother and all the village children are deserted
The children stay in the house of a child-eater
Toad keeps girl from rising
Toad takes girl's place in monster's oven
Girl runs away
There was a chief of a village who had a grown daughter and a son
who was merely a baby. Every morning the girl carried the little boy
away from the settlement and took all the other little children with her.
All day she played with them and brought them back at night. For some
time she did this. One morning when the chief saw her persist in leaving
home with the little ones instead of learning to work like the women, he
felt sad. So he decided to punish her.
After she had gone he called his people together for a council and
said, "We will leave the children." They pulled out all their tipi poles
and all the people went into the holes.1 At night the children came back.
Everything was gone. There were no people. No fire. They cried. The
girl told them all to come into one house to sleep. The next day she said,
"We'll go look for our parents." All day they travelled. At night they
saw a camp. The girl said, "Let's camp there."
Someone came out and saw them. They were glad. "We want to camp
here," said the girl. "All right !"
The children went in. The owner of the house was glad to see them.
They sat around but were given nothing to eat. The owner of the house
had some children already lying there asleep. All went to sleep except
the chief's daughter. "Go to sleep," he said. "No," she answered. "Put
down your little brother." "No, he might cry."
The owner lay down. After dark the chief's daughter heard someone
get up. Xuts xuts xuts, she heard a bone breaking. She kicked the fire to
make it lighter and heard him go out. This kept up all night. She thought,
"He devours a lot of people."
In the morning he said, "Come, let's bake them." He made a pit in
the ground for baking. He said to the girl, "Go get the leaves for the
xThey were some kind of animal.
188 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
baking. Give me your brother, I will hold him." "No, he might cry."
She went. She cried, "I will be killed and my brother too."
She pulled out a lot of leaves and grass and made a big stack which
she then tied. She had to put her brother down in order to get the pack
on her back. When she tried she could not get up. When she did get up
she saw there was a Toad in the grass. She laughed, "Ha ha, you are
going to die. Your brother will have to die too. Every time you see an
animal, step on his back, don't step on the ground. I am Toad. I am
ugly, you are young and beautiful. I will die in your stead."
She loaded the grass, her brother and Toad on her back and returned
to where the fire was being made. The children were lying there. She
put down the grass, but kept her brother on her back. The monster fixed
up the pit, put the children in and arranged grass over them. Then he
put soil on top and baked them. In about an hour he thought they ought
to be cooked. He took the oven apart and came to the children. They
had not begun to cook. He piled them on one side and came to Toad.
She was still alive. "It's your fault. You are the one who caused the fire
not to bake."1
The girl ran away. She stepped on the backs of the animals she met
and never on the ground. Finally she came to a mountain where she
stepped on the ground. From there she stepped on another mountain.
She went far this way.
The end of my road.
In the mythology studied no parallels were found for the Coeur
d'Alene Toad Saviour episode. There are typical examples of the deser-
tion of a girl and her young brother and their capture by a child-eater
in Sahaptin and Nez Perce mythology.
A mother and father desert their daughter and small son who have refused to
fetch water; the children are captured by Screech Owl (Owl Monster) and put in
her basket; Screech Owl hangs up her basket and rushes home when the children
shout that her family is burning ; the children cross the river on their grandfather's
leg; their grandfather has Crawfish, Mussel and Butterfly (and Bullhead and
Swallow) drown Screech Owl who comes in pursuit (MAFLS 11 :176, 192).
The element of the captive placed over the fire to cook who urinates
and extinguishes the blaze may also be found in otherwise dissimilar
myths as, for example, among the Thompson and the Shuswap :
The man-eaters place their victims (the wives of Eagle and Owl and their two
children, a boy and a frog ; Coyote's two daughters and their son ; a mother and
xToad spoiled the fire by making everything wet (cp. tale 1).
The Myths and Tales 189
her boy) in a kettle over the fire to cook overnight; the child (the frog) urinates
through a hole in the kettle and saves them from boiling; they escape (MAM
12:253; MAFLS 6:35; MAM 4:636).
32. Chipmunk and Snake {Contest for Winter and Spring)
Chipmunk pokes fire to bring spring
Snake pokes fire to delay it
Chipmunk goes out and nibbles grass
Snake smells fresh grass and sees spring has come
Chipmunk and Snake lived together. Their fire was one long burning
log. Each of them had a stick with which to poke the fire. Chipmunk
poked the fire, u ya ha ya ha.1 Snake poked it. "Winter" was the noise
he made. When the log was burned through the middle it would be
spring. Chipmunk was hurrying it to make spring come quicker, Snake
was trying to delay it because he wanted winter. The only time they
ceased arguing was when they slept. At dawn as soon as they woke they
took up the stick. Suddenly the Chipmunk said, "I'll go outside and see."
She went out the door. Already the ground was clear of snow. Small
blades of grass showed through. She nibbled it. She went in again and
took up her stick to poke the fire. Snake asked, "Is it clear yet?" "No,
there it still snow on the ground." Then Snake repeated, "Winter !" Sud-
denly she said, "You smell of green grass." "No, it's the mat you smell.
I just turned it over."
Outside all was green, "tsatapi'yap" spoke Snake. "Ya ha" said Chip-
munk. Patsatsa, Chipmunk ran out. Snake said, "My ! She does smell
of green grass."
Then he went out. The ground was clear. The sun was shining. Snake
ate grass and curled himself up on the ground.
The end of my road.
In a Thompson myth Grizzly Bear and Chipmunk dispute about light
and dark, warmth and cold in general, with no specific reference to the
seasons.
A log is burning on a mountain (perhaps kindled by Coyote's youngest son to
give the people fire) ; Grizzly Bear dislikes warmth and light and throws earth on
the fire ; Chipmunk throws sticks on the fire ; and fire burns more brightly ; Grizzly
pursues Chipmunk who escapes into a log as Grizzly tears the skin off his back
leaving stripes (MAFLS 6:61).
In Coast Salish mythology are found typical versions of the numerous
xThis is said for the word which means "calm weather."
190 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
contests for day and night in which Bear figures as the proponent of
long periods of darkness. Neither Chipmunk nor Snake appear :
Ant wins a race with Bear and obtains thereby short successive nights and days
{Upper Chehalis MAFLS 27:132). Bear, who desires night for six months (a
year), competes with Ant and Yellowjacket ; Bear is beaten; as a result Bear now
sleeps three months at a time {Upper Chehalis MAFLS 27:132; Cowliis MAFLS
27:188). Bear, who wants to sleep five years, compromises with Frog to sleep one
year (winter) ; Frog is also to sleep one year, people one night {Cowlitz MAFLS
27:189).
33. Elk and Snowshoes
Snowshoes and Elk live together
Elk rebels at doing all the work and leaves
Snowshoes pursues Elk and kills him
Snowshoes and Elk were friends who lived together. Snowshoes hung
on the wall. He never made fire, got water or wood, neither did he cook.
Elk did all the work. One day he got tired. He thought, "I do all the
work, my partner never does anything. I am going to leave."
He went away. The snow was deep. He threw away his ax and his
rope. The fire went out and Snowshoes got cold. He tracked Elk. He
found his ax and his rope. He saw where Elk had started to run. "I
am deserted. I'll kill him because he left me."
He followed Elk. He came to a mountain. About halfway up he
shouted. He thought Elk would look back, but he went right on. He was
always a long way ahead. Finally he began to catch up. Elk could hear
Snowshoes, up' ax p' ax p' ax, in the snow. Elk noticed he sank in deep.
Snowshoes was catching up.
"You are going to die," he cried out. "No, don't kill me, have pity on
my face," said Elk. "You left me." So saying, Snowshoes took out his
arrow, shot him and he died.
The end of the road.
No parallels to the brief Coeur d'Alene story were found. A certain
stylistic resemblance to Snowshoe's laziness and consequent desertion
may be noticed in a Tlingit story, a typical episode in the Raven cycle.
The idling in this case is well in accord with trickster Raven's character :
Raven goes to stay with Fishhawk ; Fishhawk rebels at doing all the work and
food-gathering for Raven, as well as for himself, and leaves (BBAE 39:116).
The Myths and Tales 191
34. Contest between Cold and Heat
Cold and Heat who cannot get along together have a contest
Heat overcomes his younger brother, Cold
Cold and Heat were brothers. They had their house across the river.
Cold was the younger. When he went out there would be frost on his
eyebrows and ice on his beard. He would come into the house and com-
plain as he sat in a corner farthest from the fire, "Why do you keep it
so warm? I'm very uncomfortable because of your big fire."
He left again in the morning. Then Heat went out and looked at the
sky. It was dark and threatening. He looked down at the ground and
saw a snowbird crawling about on the snow. Cold came back while he
was out and said, "My, he keeps it hot! I suppose he'll be making the
world all warm again, my brother who is gone."
Just at sunset a hot wind blew. Cold sat in his corner and sweated.
Then Heat blew into the house. "You keep it much too warm," said his
younger brother. "I do not wish to kill everyone. I have pity on the
people who travel." Cold said, "Here I am all wet with sweating."
So that is the way Heat overcame his younger brother, Cold. That is
all I know.
This sketchy Coeur d'Alene version has probably fallen out of its
setting and lost some of its descriptive parts. Analogous Thompson, Sa-
haptin, Sanpoil, Okanagon and Upper Chehalis myths, concerned with
the overpowering of Cold, are adequately motivated and recorded more
fully:
Heat Man takes his wife, Cold Man's daughter, to his family for a visit; Cold
Man pursues the two; Heat Man's father draws out the Chinook Wind, the air
becomes warm, Cold is beaten; Heat allows Cold to visit his daughter once a year
for a short time; then it is winter (Thompson MAFLS 11:61).
Two brothers leave the house of Winter's father and go to the home of Summer
and his five daughters, whom they prefer ; Winter's father, accompanied by Winter,
decides to wage war on Summer ; Summer by shaking his blanket at their approach
melts all the ice from their bodies ; he sends them home with meat (Sahaptin
MAFLS 11:148).
The necessity of overcoming extreme cold which is killing all the
people motivates the Sanpoil contest between Cold and Heat :
South Wind is chosen by the people in the Indian country to overcome Extreme
Cold; South Wind goes to Cold's house, makes a fire, thaws everything and the
Cold family dies; the seasons are henceforth regulated (MAFLS 11:105).
192 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
In the Okanagon myth Coyote conquers Cold :
With the help of his three pieces of dung, one of which is equivalent to the heat
of the sun, Coyote enters the Cold people's house, burns it and melts the ice; Cold
and his wife die ; Cold's daughter escapes ; there shall be cold once in a while
(MAFLS 11:74).
In the allied myth of the Upper Chehalis Northeast Wind represents
the Cold and Southwest Wind the Heat :
Southwest Wind, who has his home in the ocean, makes war upon Northeast
Wind in the sky ; Southwest Wind's party returns home without fatalities. In a
second fight Southwest Wind fails to overpower the seven Northeast Wind brothers
with boiling water ; thereupon his grandmother makes a water-sprinkler for him ;
five of the Northeast Wind brothers are killed. Southwest Wind melts snow and
frost so they no longer freeze people to death (MAFLS 27:75).
Detailed instances of a struggle between the winds, which follow an
outline similar to those laid out above, may be found among the Tsim-
shian, Tlingit, Haida, Thompson, Shuswap and Lillooet (ARBAE 31 :
732).
35. Rabbit and Jack Rabbit
Jack Rabbit worries about Rabbit, his relative and friend
Rabbit worries about Jack Rabbit, his relative and friend
Rabbit takes pitch to Jack Rabbit
Jack Rabbit takes bitterroot, camas and dried salmon roe to Rabbit
They meet on Tekoa Mountain
They leave their unnecessary gifts there
Rabbit and Jack Rabbit were relative-friends (cp. p ). Rabbit lived
in the mountains around here (near De Smet) and Jack Rabbit lived
on the prairie of the Big Bend country. In winter when it cleared after
a snow Jack Rabbit would look toward the mountains. The trees were
so heavy with snow that the branches interlocked. Jack Rabbit worried,
"I think Rabbit must be dead. I wonder what he eats."
Rabbit looked toward the prairie. He thought, "Poor Jack Rabbit! I
wonder if he has a fire in this cold weather. I'll go see." He made as
large a pack as he could carry of pitch shavings and started off with it
toward Jack Rabbit's. Then Jack Rabbit thought, "I think I'll take my
relative-friend some bitterroot, camas and dried salmon roe," and he
started off with them.
Rabbit came up the north side of Tekoa Mountain. As he came up he
The Myths and Tales 193
sat down at the edge of the woods. He thought, "I wonder where Jack
Rabbit lives. I don't know exactly."
Jack Rabbit came over the prairie and up the south side of the moun-
tain. As he went over the top he saw Rabbit sitting there, "Why, here
he is !" He stood up. Jack Rabbit looked up and saw him standing there.
They walked toward each other and shook hands.
"You're still alive, my relative-friend!" said one. "And you're still
alive, my relative-friend," said the other, "I was just coming to look for
you." "Why," said Jack Rabbit, "I was coming to look for you too. I
was worried about you. I thought you might be hungry."
"No," said Rabbit, "I am not hungry. I find a tree under which there
is green grass and I eat that. It's you I worry about. I thought you might
get cold so I brought these pitch shavings for you to start a fire." "No,
I'm not cold. You worry for no reason. When it snows and drifts I
find a dry spot under the sage brush. That's where I stay."
"Then I'll throw away the pitch." So saying Rabbit untied his pack
and dumped it out. Jack Rabbit said, "I'll dump what I brought to feed
you."
He dumped it out and each went his way. That is why all the trees
on Tekoa Mountain have pitch on them. That is why bitterroot and
camas are found there.1
The only parallel found for this myth, the Nes Perce story of Cotton-
tail Boy and Snowshoe Rabbit is identical with it in all but minor details.
Cottontail Boy worries about his friend Snowshoe Rabbit in the cold ; Snowshoe
Rabbit worries about his friend, Cottontail Boy, in warm regions ; they meet, each
anxious to inquire about the other's health; they part to meet again some time
(CUCA25:3).
36. Dog Goes for Fire
Wolf asks Dog to steal a spark of fire
Dog, forgetting Wolf, stays with people
People had a fire. Wolf had no fire. Wolf and Dog were friends. Wolf
said to Dog, "Go steal a spark from the people."
Dog went to the people. They fed him and he forgot to steal the
spark. That's all.
The short Coeur d'Alene story is typical of the variants of this myth
1 These plants are now extinct, but were found on Tekoa Mountain until recently.
194 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
which occur in other bodies of mythology in a consistently brief form.
The Cowlitz, Humptulip, Quileute and Quinault have the story.
Wolf and Coyote send Dog for fire ; Dog stays with the people who feed him ;
consequently Wolf and Coyote always fight Dog {Cowlitz MAFLS 27:191).
The four Wolves give their younger brother, Dog, scraps to eat ; Dog, left at
home to tend the fire, neglects it ; he is sent to the people for fire and stays with
them ; dogs can escape Wolves only by urinating in their eyes {Humptulip MAFLS
27:307).
In the Quileute and Quinault versions it is within a longer myth in
which the Earth People wage war upon the Sky People that the motiva-
tion for Dog's errand for fire is found. Earth People find themselves
in need of fire in the cold upper regions :
In the Quileute myth Snowbird is sent to a house for fire and fails to return ; Dog
is dispatched, is fed by the Sky People and stays with them; Rabbit succeeds in
bringing his fellow-warriors fire (CUCA 12:81).
In the Quinault myth Robin and Dog are so comfortable with the Sky People
that each forgets to return with a firebrand; Dog is fed camas (MAM 4:109).
A Kathlamet myth, a composite of various elements of the preceding
versions, is noted below for its comparative interest.
Beaver successfully obtains fire from the Sky People by a ruse ; the Earth People
then dispatch Skunk, Robin, Mouse and Rat to seek an entrance to the Sky People's
house; Robin warms himself at a fire belonging to two old women and remains
with them ; when he returns home some time later his belly is burnt red from the
blaze (BBAE 26:68).
D. TALES WITH HISTORICAL ELEMENTS
37. Turtle's War Party {Mock Plea)
Turtle assembles Water People for a war party
Watersnake refuses to take part
The party turns back; Turtle advances alone
Turtle kills a Nez Perce chief
Turtle is discovered with chief's scalp
Turtle mocks death by pounding with a rock and burning; he pleads against being
drowned
Thrown into water, Turtle returns home and holds scalp dance
Turtle had a house at Chatcolet. One day he said, "Come to my place,
all of you who belong in the water."
The Myths and Tales 195
The turtles, fishes and all the water animals came. At night Turtle
took a blanket and sang : "hi • • • ahi • • ■ a • n." All the people took hold
of the blanket and began hitting it with a stick as they sang. Snake how-
ever was too proud and haughty to take part. He merely walked some
distance away with his striped blanket pulled up to his nose and looked on.
In the morning Turtle said, "I'm going on a raid to the Nez Perce
country."
All the Water People started off with him. They had not gone far
when night came on. Turtle clubbed the blanket and sang. The next
morning they went on but on the second day had gone only as far as
Plummer. The second night they sang and drummed again. In the
morning the chief, a big salmon, said, "We'll turn back. You know we
belong in the water. My children (people) are dry."
Then Turtle said, "You can go to Spokane for all I care! I started
and I am going to reach my goal. I won't turn back."
The fish all turned back. Turtle went on alone. Before night he came
to Fort Lapwe, a place in the Nez Perce country at the foot of a very
steep hill. On the top of the hill he sat down. He saw the people on the
other side of Snake River. He waited until dark. Then he went down to
the water where he crawled because it was his element. The people how-
ever did not walk but moved like fish. Turtle crawled up to the shore.
There he saw many houses. He went in among the tents. There he dis-
covered the chief's house because many people were going in and out
to smoke.
After they had all come out, Turtle crawled in and hid in the space
between the main house poles and the door.1 He listened until the chief
snored, "xu xu."
Turtle took his knife and cut off the chief's head at the throat. He
never moved or made a sound. Then Turtle took hold of his hair and
cut his scalp off entirely. He pulled up the blanket over the chief and
went off with the scalp under his arm. Then Turtle went to sleep. In the
morning the people began to pass the chief's house on the way to the
sweathouse.
His wife said, "He is still asleep." She cooked, but when the food was
ready she was too kind to waken him. When the sun was very high the
people came back from sweating and said, "Where is the chief?" The
woman said, "He is still sleeping." "Why is that? It is too long to sleep."
"My breakfast is already cold."
He still did not stir or make a sound. Then the wife thought, "I'll look
at him." She turned back the blanket, "Why, he's dead !"
1This was the place where things were often stored.
196 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Then all the people came. They saw he had been scalped. As they were
arranging the body for burial they found Turtle with the scalp under his
arm. They said, "This must be the one who killed him." They pulled
and pulled at him but in vain. One said, "Throw him on his back and
pound him with a rock."
Turtle then ran and cried, "Go ahead and try it! I'll kill some more
of you." Meanwhile he hit himself with a rock as if he did not mind
the blows. The people said, "No, that won't kill him. Let us throw him
into the fire."
Turtle ran on his hind feet like a dog toward the fire crying, "That
will only make me tougher so I can kill more of you." "No, that won't
do. How can we kill him?" Another suggested, "Let's throw him into
the water." And then Turtle covered his eyes with his hands and cried
and begged, "a a, don't, please don't throw me into the water !" "Go
ahead ! Throw him in ! That's the way to kill him."
They had not been able to pull him away from the ground for he
clung tight to some obstruction, but now they took a stick and he let
himself be pried loose. They took him toward the water but as they
came near an old man said, "Stop, don't you know that's just his element."
As soon as Turtle heard that he sprang free and jumped into the
water. The people said, "He's dead. How can he come ashore again?"
The old person said, "Does he not have his home in the water? There
he lives from one year's end to another."
The people went to the river. From the other side they heard Turtle
singing and waving the scalp "axiya xiya." They crossed the river and
chased him to the top of the hill but they could not catch up with him,
so they turned back.
Turtle came home to Chatcolet. He cut off the branch of a bush to
which he tied the scalp. He waved it and kept on singing. The people
said, "Turtle must have come back. He brought a scalp." So they had
a scalp dance.1
Each one dressed himself up in his best. He painted his face red and
yellow and combed his hair in a different way. He made stripes all over
his body with red paint, especially under the arms. Frog and the various
fishes, all painted themselves and danced and sang. Turtle kept hold of
the scalp. The people danced and gave the war-whoop. Snake just stood
with his striped blanket drawn up to his nose like a Nez Perce and never
took part in any of the dance.2
1 The stem is said to mean "make fun of, taunt, an enemy."
* Nowadays the Nez Nerce fear the turtle much as many white people fear the
mouse. A Nez Perce chief was actually mysteriously murdered and no one was
ever able to find out who did it (explanation by interpreter).
The Myths and Tales 197
Turtle figures as the lone killer in a similar myth of the Kutenai :
Turtle goes to a strange town ; he kills a chief ; he is discovered with the chief's
head ; he mocks death inflicted by a knife, a bow or an ax ; he pleads against death
in the water ; released in the water, he returns with the chief's head to the tent he
shares with Beaver (BBAE 59:22).
An Okanagon version opens with the animals' war expedition against the sky
forces for the purpose of obtaining fire ; Turtle falls from the sky and kills a per-
son (Globus 52:137). His adventures at this point follow the outline recorded for
those of the Kutenai myth. In conclusion the animals return home from the sky.
In a myth of the Thompson chief Rainbow Trout replaces the Coeur
d'Alene Turtle as the leader of a war party. The story is concerned
however solely with the warring expedition and Chief Rainbow Trout
has no individual significance beyond the fact of his leadership.
Rainbow Trout summons the fishes of the interior for a war party into the coast
country ; some of the party turn back, the rest continue ; they wage successful wars
against the coast fish and spread into the streams over the country; some return
home (MAM 12:350).
Further instances of the use of the Mock Plea appear in other con-
nections in the mythology of the Tlingit, Quinault, Chinook and Nootka :
A great swimmer's wife dies ; he finds her in a hostile village in the sky ; he mocks
death by fire, pleads against being thrown into the water and swims away to safety ;
Spider Woman helps him descend from the sky with his wife (Tlingit BBAE
39:251).
Squirrel and Black Diver taunt Bluejay for killing his own child in a Bungling
Host episode; Bluejay takes them captive in his canoe; the ropes binding them
break continually; Black Diver suggests weeds instead; he bursts them and dives
into the water; Squirrel suggests Bluejay confine him in a brush-pile; Squirrel
escapes (Quinault MAM 4:91).
In the Chinook myth Bluejay is similarly tricked by the man he holds captive in
his canoe, who suggests sea-grass as more effective than rope for binding him ; the
man, when thrown into the water, unties his bonds and escapes (BBAE 20:22).
In the Nootka story Cuttlefish begs a man not to kill him in front of his house,
on the shore or in shallow water, for people would say the man's threshold was
bloody; the man takes him out into deep water; Cuttlefish wraps his arms about
him and drowns him (IS 109).
Bluejay's war party is the subject of a Shuswap myth. The expedi-
tion has for its goal the conquering of a water monster and thus belongs
198 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
in quite a different category from that of Turtle's War Party. The
similarity lies solely in matters of war procedure.
Bluejay dances the war-dance, sings his war song, sets out on the warpath with
his brothers, kills the water monster, and dances the dance of victory (MAM 4:665).
38. Two-Headed Snakes
Women gathering camas encounter snakes with two heads on each end
A flood reaches the snakes' hole in the cliff and destroys them
Directly north of the old church at Cataldo there is a flat where
many camas grow. Women gathering camas would hear teeth knocking
together, otsax tsax, and would see something coming over the grass.
It was a two-headed snake which had to go flat over the grass like a
scraper so as to keep its heads in place. Some of the women ran, but
some were not quick enough and were struck. Some were knocked down
because it was so strong.
There came a rain. Snakes' house was high in a hole in the cliff north
of the camas flat. It rained so hard the flood reached the hole and killed
the snakes. They were never seen after that.
When I was a little girl I used to hear of snakes with heads on both
ends.1
The Coeur d'Alene narrator of the Two-Headed Snake story claimed
it was a true story. The double-headed snake or serpent appears in
stories of other tribes as an avowedly mythological being to which super-
natural power is commonly attached.
Four myths may be noted for the Kwakiutl in which the double-
headed serpent puts in an appearance :
A man sees a double-headed serpent and kills it (MAM 5 :60) ; a woman finds
the scales of a double-headed serpent and rubs her son's arrows with them (MAM
5:138) ; a boy washes his hands in the slime of the double-headed serpent and be-
comes Stone Hand (MAM 5 :146) ; a man rubs his son with the salmon, the double-
headed serpent he has killed, and the boy becomes Stone Body (MAM 5:197).
A number of further references to the fabulous snake may be found
distributed among the Lower Fraser, Squamish, Comox, Kwakiutl and
Newettee tribes:
A man safely passes the double-headed snake {Lower Fraser IS 41) ; a boy kills
the double-headed snake with a head at each end {Squamish IS 58) ; boys in
1 Dorothy's father saw these snakes. Each was about three feet long, as thick as
an arm and had two heads at each end. Their den was a hole in the cliff which
could not be reached by man from the top or the bottom.
The Myths and Tales 199
heaven catch the double-headed snake and instruct it to eat their father-in-law,
one head eating at each end (Comox IS 68) ; a man sees a fiery two-headed snake,
hurls his spear at it and receives supernatural power for catching seals from it
(Comox IS 81) ; men test their power by feeding each other a double-headed snake
but they both survive the test (Kwakiutl IS 134) ; two transformers see the beauti-
ful two-headed snake, one kills it and takes its skin and eyes which help him in
great displays of power (Newettee IS 195). In still another Kwakiutl myth some
of the beams of the hero's house are represented as being double-headed snakes;
these come to life upon festive occasions and kill any evil person who enters the
house (IS 166).
In the Coeur d'Alene myth there is no such supernatural adaptation
of this alleged natural phenomenon.
39. The Dwarf
A man out hunting loses his powderhorn
A dwarf hangs it on a stump
The man's wife is injured by a dwarf at a waterhole
Once a man went hunting. He had a bandolier with a powderbox of
buffalo horn. As he walked along he noticed that the box was missing.
He turned back to look for it. He thought, "It must have fallen on the
trail whence I came." He searched a whole day without finding it. The
next day he saw it hanging on a stump. That's where a dwarf had
hung it.
That same' man went hunting another time. His wife stayed home.
She went to a hole in the ice for water. Far off the man heard scream-
ing. It was the woman crying. He thought, "I wonder what is the mat-
ter." He turned back and went past his house toward the water. He
saw his wife standing on the ice and there was nothing but blood around
her. He said, "What is the matter?" The woman said, "A dwarf hurt
me." That's all.
40. Man Caught in a Fire Corral
People impound animals in fire corral
Fire gets beyond control and people rush out
One man is missing
The people look for him at night
They find something in the dark and wail over it
It turns out to be a grizzly bear
The man is found alive, but badly burned
They tell about a time when the people made a fire corral near Sand
Point. The grass was burned in a large circle and a small opening was
200 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
left into which the animals were driven. Just as they were shooting
the impounded animals a strong wind came up and burned the grass in-
side the fire corral. Those who had game ran to the entrance with it.
Someone noticed that one of the men had killed something. They ran
home and as soon as they got to the house where they had a council they
found out that one was missing.
"I guess he must be burned," they said. They waited for him until
night but he did not come back. "He must certainly be burned," they
thought. His wife said, "Come with me. We'll look for him."
I don't know how many people (but many) went with her. They came
to the place. "It was right here we saw him last," a man told the woman.
The people scattered in every direction. "Here is where he lies dead,"
they reported.
They saw something black lying there in the dark. They all sur-
rounded it and began to cry and wail. The woman sat by what she
thought was the head and the rest sat around the dark thing. Then she
thought, "I'll feel it." She felt its face but it did not seem like a person.
She felt further back and cried, "He has long ears. It's very different
from a man."
They all felt and found it was a bear. Then they laughed. They got
up and searched again. They finally found another dark figure lying
there. It was the man. He was still breathing, although he was badly
burned. "I guess the bear was his catch," they thought. They took him
back to his house.
Thus it is at the end of the trail.
41. Flathead Chief Sends his Daughter to Chief Waxane'
Flathead Chief sends his daughter to Waxane', Coeur d'Alene chief
Leader of Ugly People pretends to be Waxane', marries girl
Girl consults real Waxane"s daughter
Waxane' has false chief and all Ugly People killed
Waxane' pays damages to false Waxane"s children
One of the Flathead chiefs had a daughter. He said to her. "There
is a famous Coeur d'Alene. Go to him and stay.1 I am not sure of the
road but you climb a high mountain. When you get on top you will see
a river flowing toward the Nez Perce country, one toward the Black-
foot, one toward the Kalispelm country and one directly toward the
place where the sun sets. That is the way you should go."
The girl went. She climbed the mountain. She saw the water flowing
toward the west. She came to the big stream. Suddenly she saw a person
1 The implication is that he would take her for a wife.
The Myths and Tales 201
coming toward her on the water. She went toward him and sat down on
the bank. He rowed up to her. "Oh, you're here," he said. "Yes." "Why-
are you wandering around this way?" "Yes, my father said to me, 'Go
to Chief Waxane'.' Am I going toward his place?" "Why yes, I am
the one you were sent to. Come, get into my canoe."
He paddled on. She went with him to his home. "What has hap-
pened?" he was asked. "You bring a girl back as your partner?" "Yes,
her father told her to come to me, so she came."
She stayed there for a time. The man had many brothers. These
people were called Ugly People. They lived apart from the rest of the
people. When the girl became better acquainted she thought, "I don't
believe this is Waxane'." She found out that the man who really had
that name had a little girl. She watched for her. She saw her come and
said, "Come, come!" Then she questioned her, "Who is your father?"
She answered, "His name is Chief Waxane'." "Why! He's the man I
was sent to."
The little girl went home and told her father about the woman and
the directions which had been given her. He said, "Ah !" Then he went
to the girl and asked, "Am I the one you were sent to?" She said, "My
father sent me to Chief Waxane'. A man saw me and said, T am the
one/ so I went with him." "The next time they go hunting say, 'I am
sick. I have a headache. When it is better I'll go with you.' " She said,
"All right!"
In a few days they said the people were going hunting. She said, "I
have a headache." They went. The mother and father were the last to
go. Just at sunset the real Waxane' said to his people, "Go, kill that
man."
They tracked him and killed him between St. Mary's and Wallace.
After they had passed this place the chief said, "Go, find the rest and
kill them."
There was an old man. He was made to come along. At night he was
told, "Go in, if you are quiet all the people will say to you, 'Now tell
stories.' " He did as he was told. From a distance he saw a house. He
went in. The people said to him, "You could come up to the fire." It
was cold. He said, "I am cold. What you have left, just the scraps, I'll
eat. That's why I came."
He began to tell stories. They said, "Stop now, we are sleepy." But
no ! He kept right on. When they snored he went back to his partners,
"They're all asleep."
The youngest and oldest went in and killed all the people.1
1 The Ugly People lived at a place called Hinma'tsap.
202 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
"Go back to Waxane'." Three men went.
The chief had said, "Don't kill the children, but just their parents
for they are your sister's sons. If he shoots at you say, 'Stop, my
mother's brothers.' "
They all went. The father was killed. They said to the children,
"Your mother's brother said, 'Go kill your father, but do not kill the
children.' " They came back and reported, "We didn't kill them." After
some days they came back crying.
The chief said, "Bring all the things you can, clothes, moccasins,
pants, blankets. The children have arrived."
The chief called them in. He said, "Because your parents were wicked
they were killed. You must not be that way, you must be good. Well,
here are the damages." That's all.
The end of the trail.
Other tribes have myths in which similar instances of mistaken iden-
tity occur but, beyond this stylistic resemblance to the Coeur d'Alene
factual narrative, the myths are distinct.
A Kathlamet myth of this class calls to mind perhaps more readily
the introductory episodes of the Coeur d'Alene Skunk and Fisher story
(tale 23).
Bluejay sends a maiden to chief Panther; Beaver deceives the girl about his
identity and she stays with him; Panther fetches her; Beaver causes a flood (BBAE
26:20).
In Tsimshian mythology a princess mistakes the Prince from Heaven's slave for
the prince and marries him; the prince marries the princess' lame sister, whom he
cures; the prince and his wife transform the slave and princess into fish (ARBAE
31:298).
In a Kwakiutl myth Prince Property Body tells his sweetheart, Calling Tribes,
he will not be able to come to her one night ; that evening Calling Tribes mistakes
a stranger, Chief of the Wood Men, for Property Body ; Wood Man takes Calling
Tribes to the ghosts' country; Calling Tribes partakes of the ghosts' food and is
doomed to remain with them (MAM 5:250).
In a Thompson myth Crow, a slave, leads his mistress to believe he is a wealthy
stranger ; he has connection with her and flies away ; she pronounces him hence-
forth a crow (MAM 12:236).
The incidental element of the Coeur d'Alene tale, telling stories in
order to put the enemy to sleep, is made use of by many other tribes,
for example, by the Kwakiutl, Nootka, Haida and Tlingit.
The Myths and Tales 203
Deer effects his escape from his captors, the Wolves, by putting them
to sleep with a story (Kwakiutl CUCA 2:163; Nootka IS 110). Chief
Wisest One put Cannibal at North End of World, his wife and child, to
sleep with a story, so that he and his children can kill them ; the canni-
bals' ashes become horseflies and mosquitoes (Kwakiutl CUCA 2 :39) .
Raven puts Chief Eagle to sleep with a long story (of his origin and
the world's history), so that he can steal the water of which Eagle is
keeper ; springs and rivers flow where water drips from Raven's mouth
(Eagle smokes Raven black when the latter flees as a crow, dripping
water upon the earth) (Haida MAM 8:235 ; Tlingit JAFL 20:294).
42. The Coeur d'Alene Attacked
Three boys are instructed to seek vision
One of the boys sees woman in bright light who warns him of enemy
Boy refuses to leave camp
Enemy attacks, other two boys killed
Boy and mother run away
He returns for new suit
He and mother escape, return to stunned father
Clean Face faces enemy alone
Clean Face's daughter shot in back
Boy's uncle's horses stolen by enemy
Uncle heads off enemy
Shoots enemy riding lead horse
Party returns home with horses
Long ago before the white man had come a boy lived near the place
which is now the old Mission at Cataldo. In those days children were
obedient to their parents. It was the custom for the boys to make a one-
night camp in order to make them smart (successful). If a boy slept at
a one-night camp perhaps he would dream that an animal talked with
him. It might be a woodpecker. He would tell the boy how he ought to
act. When he got back the seeker of the vision would wear a token of
his encounter with the guardian. It might be a bear's claw or a feather.
Such an experience would make a boy successful.
Near Cataldo three families lived, each had a young boy. Their
fathers said to them, "It is time for you to make your one-night camp."
One who was tall was told to go to one place. A small one was sent to
Little Plummer. The father said to the boy of my story, "Make your
fire a little distance from the small boy."
They were to go at sundown so the parents could see plainly when
and where they built their fires. After they had been instructed the boys
were very happy. They jumped about and challenged each other to a
204 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
hoop-game, saying, "The one who gets into those willow bushes first
wins." They ran off.
Just as the boy of my story entered the brush he saw a very bright
light. He was terribly afraid. He tried to step back but it was as if his
body was dead. He could not move. In the light he saw a beautiful
woman the like of which he had never seen. She spoke to him, "When
your father calls and says, 'Go !' do not go, for the enemy is where he
wants you to go." Then she disappeared.
In those days they called the enemy Chop Faces. After the woman
had gone the boy could move again. He stepped back and ran home.
When he went into the house he sat still and said not a word. He sat
apart and watched the other children playing but did not join them.
He thought, "When my father calls I won't go. If I do, I'll only pre-
tend. I will really go to my father's brother because he lives near where
father told me to go. But then, if my father finds out I have deceived
him he will surely kill me. Or, if I crouch nearby I'll become a stone
because father says children who are stubborn and disobedient become
stones."
Finally he made up his mind, "I won't go." He sat there grieving
within his heart. As the sun went down the small boy was told by his
father, "Go, it's time now !" The tall one was directed, "It's time to go
to make the one-night camp."
Finally the father of the boy of my story said, "It's time to go now,"
but the boy paid no attention. A second time he was reminded, "It's
time. Didn't I say before, 'The little one is obedient.' " Then the boy
looked at his father's father who was quietly laughing. The father took
a bucket and threw it hard at his son saying, "Get me some water! I
am thirsty."
The boy was glad to have something to do and ran out with the
bucket. In no time he had filled it and soon set it down by his father.
Then his grandfather said to his father, "Don't say any more to him.
He must have some reason for not going. You know yourself he never
says 'No' at other times."1 So the father did not repeat his orders to his
son.
Just as it became dark the elders looked for the fires. They could see
at a distance the small boy sitting behind his fire which reddened his
face. Soon he was killed by the enemy who had been there filing down
rocks all day for bullets. Long after this the people used to see the place
where the boys had camped.
Just at daybreak the enemy moved on to Cataldo. They surrounded
1 That is, he is not usually disobedient.
The Myths and Tales 205
the houses and shot at random. As soon as the head of the house fell
the boy was wakened by his mother, "Wake up, already the enemy have
surrounded us. Your father has been killed." Out of a sound sleep the
boy jumped up. His mother said, "Hurry ! Let us run ! Follow me !"
They ran. When they were not far from the house the boy remem-
bered the little suit which his mother had made for him to wear after he
had made his one-night camp. He ran back and got it from under his
pillow. He saw his father lying face down. Just as he ran off he was
shot at. He pretended to fall, got up and ran on again. He ran to the
water where his mother was waiting in a canoe. They paddled off and
hid until the enemy went away. Then they returned to their home. The
father was alive. He had not been killed but was only stunned. He said
to his son, "Why didn't you tell us why you did not want to make your
one-night camp?" "You wouldn't have believed me," he answered.
When the enemy left Cataldo they went toward the house of Clean
Face. All alone he faced them. They shot at him and he returned their
shots. He killed one and ran at them growling like a grizzly bear, hi • • • .
The enemy answered hi • • • and Clean Face said, "Why don't you stay
home where you belong?"1
Finally the enemy surrounded him. Only then they discovered that
he was alone. One of them shouted, "Catch him! He's alone!" (This
was spoken in bad Kalispelm.) Clean Face answered, "All right!" Go
ahead, catch me! I'm all alone!"
Just about that time Clean Face's daughter was shot. The arrow was
sticking in her back. She took up a handful of dust and threw it on the
wound. Someone said, "Why do you do that? Don't you know the
thunder always brings dust with him?"2 The dust however brought no
harm and her wound healed quickly.
The paternal uncle of the boy of my story lived with his mother east
of Little Plummer. They had many horses. His mother had heard them
whinnying, "The horses are talking. Go and see what is wrong." Her
son did not pay any attention to her. Soon she said again, "Go, see
what is the matter." "No, I suppose it is that leader of the herd, the
one with the red on his back. He's probably fighting with the others."
Some time after she told him again. He went then but the horses
were gone. He came back to his mother. "The horses are gone. Maybe
they were driven off by the enemy." Then he reported to his neighbors,
"My horses have been driven off."
They hired runners to go in every direction. They got ready and as-
sembled. They followed the enemy. The boy's uncle headed off the
1It sounds "meaner" than this in Coeur d'Alene (Julia).
* This means using the dust would bring bad luck.
206 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
enemy by going ahead as far as the river. There he climbed a tree and
waited. He aimed his gun at the spot where they were coming. Soon he
heard the tramp of horses and it was not long before they came in sight.
Red on Back, the leader, was being ridden by the enemy. He went down
to the river to drink. Just as he was drinking the boy's uncle pulled the
trigger. The enemy fell off the horse. The rest were so frightened they
scattered in every direction. The horse turned back home followed by
all the other horses.
The boy's uncle came down from the tree. He had not gone far when
he met his fellow tribesmen. "I shot and killed one of the enemy. I saw
him fall off the horse. Then I hurried back."
They headed the horses so they would run homeward. Then the
people said, "Let's go see." They went to the water but the enemy was
gone. They could see where he had fallen. They said, "He must have
been stunned. That's why he fell off. Well, let's turn back." They went.
As they came out of the woods on to the prairie they saw Red on Back
way over on the side towards home.
This war narrative of the Coeur d'Alene is the only reference to the
custom of seeking a vision. This religious custom also makes its way
into Thompson mythology. Moreover the vision of the beautiful woman
seen in the bright light, which shows white influence, is featured again
in a Ten' a myth.
A boy goes out alone to seek supernatural power in a dream; he plants a stake
to show his father where he has been; he closes up a lake so that whales no longer
emerge there (Thompson MAM 12:269).
A chief out hunting enters a beautiful house where a supernatural woman of
great beauty is revealed to him in a sudden burst of light; in a great illumination
he sees the woman's mother ; he becomes purified (he marries the woman, visits
his home with his wife and disobeys her ; she returns to her invisible house ; he
finally recovers her there) (Ten'a PAES 6:51).
In a Kwakiutl myth Scab Boy sees a "brightness" at the place to which the Ducks
are conducting him (CUCA 2:67).
43. Two Women Overcome Nez Perce Man
Two old women camping near Nez Perce country cook
One sees enemy peeping through door
Women pretend to fight, moving toward door
One throws hot mush in enemy's face and kills him
The Myths and Tales 207
Two very old women went camping toward the Nez Perce country.
They made a camp and cooked a gruel of roots. Just as it began to boil
one of the women suddenly looked toward the doorway. She saw one
of the enemy peeping in. "Don't look toward the door," she said to her
friend. "We are being observed. Let us get angry at each other."
The other woman said in Nez Perce, "You're ugly !" "It is not true !"
They stood up to fight, one of them with the pot of boiling mush under
her arm. The enemy was on his hands and knees and had his mouth
open. As the women, fighting each other, came close to the door, one
threw the hot mush in the man's face. He ran, but afterwards they
found him dead not far from the door.
44. Woman Saved by Loose Saddle Cinch
Women camp out during the serviceberry season
Girl dreams of enemy
Women attacked, one is captured and one killed
Captive's husband shot in leg
Coeur d'Alene man attacks like grizzly bear
Enemy escapes with woman
Woman escapes when saddle cinch becomes loose
Squirrel instructs her to hide under log
Enemy leaves and woman returns home
Long ago, many years before the white man came, the Coeur d'Alene
had small settlements. About three families lived in each place. The
people were always on the lookout for attacks by the enemy. The enemy
would hide behind bushes and attack unexpectedly. One time the Kalis-
pelm surprised a group of people. It was the serviceberry season. Many
women had gone to camp near Cataldo. Not far from there was a good
serviceberry flat.
One night a girl dreamed that the enemy took them by surprise. In
the morning she said to her mother, "I dreamed we were attacked. Let
us go back." Her mother said, "No, I found berries over there and to-
morrow we will go." The next day they all went to pick. The girl said
to her mother, "You pick there. I will pick from the opposite side of
the same bush."
Just as they were picking the enemy came galloping toward them. They
ran and crawled into the long grass and all escaped but one woman. The
enemy took the woman captive and said to her, "Where are your house
and the horses?"
She pointed in the opposite direction thinking the enemy would travel
far and thus tire. They rode over logs and stumps in the woods and
208 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
finally came out onto a prairie. Here a woman was digging camas. The
enemy touched her with an arrow. She turned to defend herself with
her digging stick. The enemy hit her over the head and she died. Then
they went to the house of the woman they had captured. The few Coeur
d'Alene there shot at the enemy. One of them ran to get his wife. They
shot him so he fell and broke his leg.
Another Coeur d'Alene man growled and attacked like a grizzly bear
so that the enemy turned and ran back to their own country taking the
woman with them. As they were riding the cinch of the horse on which
she and her captor were riding came loose. The enemy got down to
tighten the cinch. The woman thought, "I will run." She got down and
ran. Not far distant was a fallen balsam fir whose leaves had not yet
dropped off. As she hid there she was touched by a squirrel who said to
her, "Go under the log and stay until he is gone. Then you can go back
home again."
She hid there. She heard horse's hooves coming toward her, passing
by very near her, then going on. Then the sound died away. Until dark
she lay there. Then she came out and went home. When the people saw
her they were very glad. Her hair had been smeared with red paint. Some-
one said to her, "Who combed you like that?" She said, "The enemy."
They told her, "Your husband had his leg broken." She was sorry, but
she was glad she had escaped and that her husband had been saved even
though he had a broken leg.
45. The Coeur d'Alene Fight the Kutenai
Two Coeur d'Alene meet two Kutenai
Coeur d'Alene request shirt exchange
As Kutenai draws off shirt, Coeur d'Alene stabs him
Coeur d'Alene kill Kutenai
Two Coeur d'Alene brothers climbed a mountain. As they came over
the top they saw two Kutenai coming up the other side. The Coeur
d'Alene said, "Let's kill them !" The younger said, "All right !"
As they came up to the Kutenai the Coeur d'Alene said, "Let's ex-
change our shirts." The Kutenai objected because they said they would
not look like their kind but the Coeur d'Alene prevailed. "You Kutenai,
take yours off first."
The Coeur d'Alene had hold of the handle of his knife. As the Kutenai
pulled his shirt over his head the Coeur d'Alene stabbed him. He growled
and said to his younger brother, "Hurry ! Run after him." The other
straightened up and threw off his shirt. They fought. The Kutenai
The Myths and Tales 209
looked at his younger brother. Already he had been overcome. The
Coeur d'Alene killed both of the Kutenai.
46. Boy Takes Food
Boy takes meat from main supply
Parents become angry ; boy leaves
Goes with man to Kalispelm country
Kalispelm boy, told not to eat bear guts, runs away from home
Coeur d'Alene pair kill boy's parents, helpless because they are surfeited with bear
grease
A Coeur d'Alene family consisting of father, mother and a boy about
fifteen went to visit another tribe. The boy became surfeited with service-
berries and was hungry for meat. Unknown to his mother he cut a slice
of meat from where it hung and ate it. His mother and father were
angry and scolded him. Then the boy became angry and left. He went
downstream. He came to a house where a man was thrumming the
string of a bow one end of which he held in his mouth. "Opam pam,"
it said, as a sign the man was going on a long trip.
The boy said to the owner of the dwelling, "I'm going with you." "No,
your father might become angry." "No, I am the one who is angry. My
parents think more of their food than of me."
The boy went with the man toward Wallace, along the river to the
Kalispelm country. They had the canoe all ready. When it was still a
little light just before sunset they came where the current was swift.
They were seen by an enemy boy of about the same age who reported,
"My ! I think I saw a person. No, it is a goose. No, it's a person."
Then it was dark. The Kalispelm family, which consisted of parents
and the young boy, had a bear which they had just killed. They were
surfeited with bear grease. The boy was told, "Don't eat the bear guts."1
So he ran far away from the house to sleep. The Coeur d'Alene canoe
overtook the parents of the Kalispelm boy as they slept hard because
of their heavy meal and killed them.
The end.
Children, taking food without permission, reprimanded by their par-
ents and leaving home is a common theme found among the Nass,
Kwakiuil, Yookilta, Nootka, Tsimshian, Bella Coola and Tlingit. Each
of these myths reveals a more closely knit form than the Coeur d'Alene
story and the conclusions arrived at are accordingly more definite and
1 Bear guts are cleaned and dried. Little pieces are eaten to cure indigestion.
210 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
concise. In most cases the children return home with new supernatural
power.
A man brings home food from a feast ; his eldest son eats it ; the father scolds the
boy ; the boy stays in bed three days ; he leaves and gets to salmon country where
he marries the chief's daughter (Nass ARBAE 31:886).
A hungry boy (two brothers) takes some of his father's salmon roe; his father
beats him ; a stranger urges him to eat all the salmon ; he is beaten again ; he prays
on the beach and (helped by Moon Man) obtains much herring for his father (who
becomes a wealthy chief) (Kwakiutl MAM 14:375; Yookilta IS 131; Nootka IS
115).
A boy eats some of the eggs he was sent to gather ; his father strikes him ; he
leaves; he learns to fly and obtains a dance (Kwakiutl IS 162).
Children eat up their mothers' mussels ; the children are beaten ; they leave and
become a new tribe (Nootka IS 119).
A prince gives his hungry slave boy a piece of dried salmon which his mother is
saving ; the prince is scolded by his mother ; he leaves and is taken to Salmon
country (Tsimshian ARBAE 31:193).
A woman scolds her husband for giving her step-son too much to eat; the boy
leaves ; he returns after two years with the power to obtain all sorts of fish (Bella
Coola IS 266).
A father invites strangers to eat tallow ; his daughters have already been fed the
tallow by their grandmother (two girls eat between meals) ; the girls' mother
scratches their cheeks ; the two girls leave and marry Mountain Dweller ; they re-
turn home with huge quantities of food (Tlingit BBAE 39:222, 280).
47. The Practical Joker
Man on visit to friend learns he is out fishing
Man pretends to be fish and friend fishes him up
Friend much frightened
Two men were friends. Just before they parted one said to the other,
"When I die you can take my gun." "Good," answered his friend. Then
the second got to thinking about having the gun and came to the con-
clusion, "I may as well get the gun. He gave it to me anyway just as if
it were mine."
He went to his friend's house and inquired of his wife, "Where is
my friend?" "He's gone. He went to the river to fish." "I'll go after him."
The Myths and Tales 211
He went to the river and saw his friend fishing. He was so engrossed
he did not see his friend as he approached, so the latter decided to play
a trick. He undressed and went into the water. The shore was steep
where the man was fishing. His friend dived and swam under the water.
The current was swift and when the fisherman threw in his line it went
far downstream. The friend went up to it and took hold of it. The fisher-
man pulled and thought he had a bite. He pulled and saw he was fishing
up a person. He was so frightened he did not know what he was doing
but kept pulling, meantime walking backwards.
The catch came ashore and followed the line. The fisherman was so
frightened he did not recognize his friend, nor did he stop pulling.
Finally the friend said, "What's the matter with you? Don't you know
what you're doing ?"
Then his friend recognized him and they had a big laugh.
A similar joke is played in a tale of the Comox :
Two young men come upon their grandfather in heaven fishing; they turn into
salmon which their grandfather harpoons ; they resume their true form and laugh
at their joke before stating their actual errand (IS 66).
In Thompson myths the Transformers play the trick in fish disguise
on Cannibal :
Cannibal is out spearing fish; one of the Transformer brothers pretends to be a
fish; Cannibal spears him; the Transformer swims away with Cannibal's spear-
head ; Cannibal sulks ; the Transformers return the spearhead to Cannibal's de-
light; he feeds them much food in little (MAM 12:221, 315; MAFLS 6:43).
In a Haida story the assumption of the fish disguise is used in a dis-
play of supernatural power, rather than in a practical joke.
A chief's son enters his silver salmon skin and steals Master Hopper's spear
point; he returns the spear point (BBAE 29:267 and cp. this work tale 1).
48. War between the Blackfoot and the Coeur d'Alene
Coeur d'Alene hunt buffalo in Blackfoot country
Recognized by a Blackfoot, party turns back
Chief tells story of his youth
Blackfoot had stolen Coeur d'Alene horse
Coeur d'Alene located horse as it was drinking at river
Blackfoot scalped and sent home
212 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
The people went travelling to hunt buffalo. Some white people had
settled near the Blackf oot. The Coeur d'Alene put up for the night near
that settlement. One of them was recognized by one of the Blackfoot.
So he said, "Let us go back." The next morning the chief called the
people together.
"When I was a boy all the horses were stolen. I was just about the
size of Ben (He Who Gathers Bones).1 I looked for my favorite horse.
He was gone. The chief called, 'We'll track them.' Some who went said,
'We'll find it for you.' The party became separated. Four went one way,
the rest another. Two of the Coeur d'Alene and two Salish (from
Where River Widens) saw the Blackfoot coming. There were six of
them. They chased the Blackfoot into the river. One of the horses was
thirsty and would not move even when he was kicked. The Blackfoot
did all he could to start him but the horse drank slowly. The Blackfoot
jumped into the water which came to his armpits. The Coeur d'Alene
chased the Blackfoot. The horses got tired. When the Coeur d'Alene
came near, the Blackfoot aimed his arrow. A Coeur d'Alene went up
to him and aimed his gun. The Blackfoot put his hands before his face
to defend himself. The other took pity on him and came very near. 'Why
don't you shoot him?' another Coeur d'Alene asked. They closed in
upon him and cut off his long hair. Each one took a braid with a part of
the scalp. The blood flowed. He cried. Tears ran down his cheeks. He
was told, 'Go you may live. We will not kill you.' "
That is the end.
1 The informant's name for Ben Nicodemus who was thirteen at the time.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ABBREVIATIONS
In the bibliography the abbreviations have been made to conform as closely as
possible with those used by G. P. Murdock in his Ethnographic Bibliography of
North America. As a matter of convenience MAMNH has been shortened to MAM.
There are two lists, one of authors and titles, the other of abbreviations so that the
references may be easily found.
Authors and Titles
Adamson, Thelma. Folk-Tales of the Coast Salish. Memoirs of the American Folk-
Lore Society (MAFLS) 27 (1934).
Andrade, M. J. Quileute Texts. Columbia University Contributions to Anthropology
(CUCA) 12 (1931).
Ballard, A. C. Mythology of Southern Puget Sound. University of Washington
Publications in Anthropology (UWPA) 3(1929) :31-150.
Ballard, A. C. Some Tales of the Southern Puget Sound Salish. UWPA 2(1927) :
57-81.
Boas, F. Chinook Texts. Bulletin Bureau of American Ethnology (BBAE) 20
(1894).
Boas, F. Einige Sagen der Kootenay. Verhandlungen der Berliner Gesellschaft
fur Anthropologic, Ethnologie und Urgeschichte (VBGA) 23 (1891) :161-2.
Boas, F. Indianische Sagen von der Nord-Pacifischen Kiiste Amerikas. (IS) 1895.
Boas, F. Kathlamet Texts. BBAE 26 (1901).
Boas, F. Kwakiutl Culture as Reflected in Mythology. MAFLS 28 (1935).
Boas, F. Thev Kwakiutl of Vancouver Island. Memoirs American Museum of Nat-
ural History (MAM) 8(1909) :307-515.
Boas, F. Kwakiutl Tales. CUCA 2 (1910).
Boas, F. Kwakiutl Tales, new series. CUCA 26 (1935).
Boas, F. The Mythology of the Bella Coola Indians. MAM 2(1900) :25-127.
Boas, F. Race, Language and Culture. New York. 1940.
Boas, F. Traditions of the Ts'ets'aut. Journal of American Folk-Lore (JAFL)
9 (1896):257-68; 10(1897) :35-48.
Boas, F. Tsimshian Mythology. Annual Report Bureau of American Ethnology
(ARBAE) 31 (1916).
Boas, F. Tsimshian Texts. BBAE 27 (1902).
Boas, F. Tsimshian Texts (New Series). Publications American Ethnological So-
ciety (PAES) 3 (1912).
Boas, F. and Chamberlain, A. Kutenai Tales. BBAE 59 (1918).
Boas, F. and Hunt, G. Kwakiutl Texts. MAM 5(1905) : 1-532. Kwakiutl Texts,
Second Series. MAM 14(1906) :l-269.
Chapman, J. W. Ten'a Texts and Tales from Anvik. PAES 6 (1914).
Dixon, R. B. Achomawi and Atsugewi Tales. JAFL 21(1908) :159-77.
Dorsey, G. A. The Pawnee: Mythology. Carnegie Institution of Washington (CI)
(1906).
Dyer, C. L. Mythology of the Kutenai. Unpublished manuscript.
Farrand, L. Traditions of the Chilcotin Indians. MAM 4(1900) :l-54.
213
214 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
Farrand, L. and Kahnweiler, W. S. Traditions of the Quinault Indians. MAM
4(1902) :77-U2.
Frachtenberg, L. See St. Clair.
Golder, F. A. Tlingit Myths. JAFL 20(1907) :290-5.
Hill-Tout, C. Notes on the N'tlakapamuq Indians. Report of the First Meeting of
the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) 69(1899) :
500-85.
Hill-Tout, C. Notes on the Skqo'mic of British Columbia. BAAS 70(1900) :472-549.
Hill-Tout, C. Report on the Ethnology of the Okana'ken. Journal of the (Royal)
Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (JAI) 41(1911):
130-61.
Hill-Tout, C. Report on the Ethnology of the Si'ciatl of British Columbia. JAI
34(1904) :20-91.
Hill-Tout, C. Report on the Stsee'lis and Skau'lits Tribes of the Halkome'lem
Division of the Salish of British Columbia. JAI 34 (1904) :311-376.
Hunt, G. See Boas and Hunt.
Jacobs, M. Northwest Sahaptin Texts. UWPA 2(1929) :175-244.
Jacobs, M. Northwest Sahaptin Texts. CUCA 19 (1934).
Jones, W. Ojibwa Texts. PAES 7 (1919).
Lowie, R. H. The Assiniboine. Anthropological Papers American Museum of
Natural History (APAM) 4 (1910).
Phillips, E. M. Columbia River Tales. The Idaho Farmer. August 7, 14; Septem-
ber 18, 1930.
Phinney, A. Nez Perce Texts. CUCA 25 (1934).
Ray, V. F. Sanpoil Folk Tales. JAFL 46(1933) :129-87.
Reichard, G. A. Coeur d'Alene. Handbook of American Indian Languages (HAIL)
3(1938) :515-707.
Reichard, G. A. Imagery in an Indian Vocabulary. American Speech 18(1943) :
96-102.
Sapir, E. Takelma Texts. University of Pennsylvania Museum Anthropological
Publications (UPMAP) 2 (1909).
Sapir, E. Wishram Texts. PAES 2(1909).
Spinden, H. J. Myths of the Nez Perce Indians. JAFL 21(1908) :13-23, 149-58.
Spinden, H. J. See Teit and Others.
St. Clair, H. H. and Frachtenberg, L. J. Traditions of the Coos Indians. JAFL
22(1909) :25-41.
Swanton, J. R. Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida. MAM 8(1909) :l-300.
Swanton, J. R. Haida Texts, Masset Dialect. MAM 14(1908) :273-812.
Swanton, J. R. Haida Texts and Myths, Skidegate Dialect. BBAE 29(1905).
Swanton, J. R. Tlingit Myths and Texts. BBAE 39 (1909).
Taverner, P. A. Birds of Western Canada. Victoria Memorial Museum Bulletin
41 (1926), Ottawa.
Teit, J. A. The Lillooet Indians. MAM 4(1906) : 193-300.
Teit, J. A. Mythology of the Thompson Indians. MAM 12(1912) :199-416.
Teit, J. A. The Salishan Tribes of the Western Plateaus. ARBAE 45(1930) :447-
758.
Teit, J. A. The Shuswap. MAM 4 (1906) :447-758.
Teit, J. A. The Thompson Indians of British Columbia. MAM 2(1900) :163-392.
Teit, J. A. Traditions of the Lillooet Indians of British Columbia. JAFL 25(1912) :
287-371.
Bibliography and Abbreviations 215
Teit, J. A. Traditions of the Thompson River Indians of British Columbia. MAFLS
6 (1898).
Teit, J. A. and Others. Folk-Tales of Salishan and Sahaptin Tribes. MAFLS 11
(1917).
Waterman, T. T. The Explanatory Element in the Folk-Tales of North American
Indians. JAFL 27 (1914) :l-54.
Abbreviations
APAM 4, see Lowie.
ARBAE 31, see Boas, Tsimshian Mythology
ARBAE 45, see Teit, The Salishan Tribes
BAAS 69, see Hill-Tout, Notes on the N'tlakapamuq
BAAS 70, see Hill-Tout, Notes on the Skqo'mic
BBAE 20, see Boas, Chinook Texts
BBAE 26, see Boas, Kathlamet Texts
BBAE 27, see Boas, Tsimshian Texts
BBAE 29, see Swanton, Haida Texts and Myths, Skidegate Dialect
BBAE 39, see Swanton, Tlingit Myths and Texts
BBAE 59, see Boas and Chamberlain
CI, see Dorsey
CUCA 2, see Boas, Kwakiutl Tales
CUC A 12, see Andrade
CUCA 25, see Phinney
CUCA 26, see Boas, Kwakiutl Tales, New Series
HAIL, see Reichard, Coeur d'Alene
Idaho Farmer, see Phillips
IS, see Boas, Indianische Sagen
JAFL 9, see Boas, Traditions of the Ts'ets'aut
JAFL 20, see Golder
JAFL 21 : 13-23, 149-58, see Spinden
JAFL 21 -.159-77, see Dixon
JAFL 22, see St. Clair
JAFL 25, see Teit, Traditions of the Lillooet
JAFL 27, see Waterman
JAFL 46, see Ray
JAI 34, see Hill-Tout, Report on the Ethnology of the Si'ciatl, and Report on the
Stsee'lis
JAI 41, see Hill-Tout, Report on the Ethnology of the Okana'k"en
MAFLS 6, see Teit, Traditions of the Thompson
MAFLS 11, see Teit and Others
MAFLS 27, see Adamson
MAFLS 28, see Boas, Kwakiutl Culture as Reflected in Mythology
MAM 2 :25-127, see Boas, The Mythology of the Bella Coola Indians
MAM 2:163-392, see Teit, The Thompson Indians of British Columbia
MAM 4:1-54, see Far rand, Traditions of the Chilcotin
MAM 4 :77-132, see Farrand and Kahnweiler
MAM 4:193-300, see Teit, The Lillooet Indians
MAM 4:447-758, see Teit, The Shuswap
216 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
MAM 5:1-532, see Boas and Hunt
MAM 8:1-300, see Swanton, Contributions to the Ethnology of the Haida
MAM 8:307-515, see Boas, The Kwakiutl of Vancouver Island
MAM 12:199-416, see Teit, Mythology of the Thompson Indians
MAM 14:1-269, see Boas and Hunt
MAM 14 :273-812, see Swanton, Haida Texts, Masset Dialect
PAES 2, see Sapir, Wishram Texts
PAES 3, see Boas, Tsimshian Texts (New Series)
PAES 6, see Chapman
PAES 7, see Jones
RLC, see Boas, Race, Language and Culture
UPMAP, see Sapir, Takelma Texts
UWPA 2 :57-81, see Ballard, Some Tales
UWPA 2:175-244, see Jacobs
UWPA 3, see Ballard, Mythology of Southern Puget Sound
VBGA 23, see Boas, Einige Sagen
MEMOIRS OF THE AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY
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*4. Current Superstitions, from the Oral Tradition of English-speaking Folk,
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*5. Navaho Legends, by Washington Matthews. With texts and melodies.
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*28. Kwakiutl Culture as Reflected in Mythology, by Frank Boas. 1935. 190 pp.
*28. Folklore from Iowa, by Earl J. Stout. 1936. 228 pp. $3.50.
217
218 An Analysis of Coeur d'Alene Indian Myths
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